妾

1. A secondary wife or concubine.

2. A humble first-person pronoun ("I," "your servant") used by women in dialogue.

Functions as a noun denoting social status and as a first-person humble pronoun.

[DISTINITIONS]

• vs. 妻 (primary wife): The distinction is one of formal legal and ritual standing; the primary wife possesses a marriage contract and a recognized place in ancestral rites, which the concubine does not.
• vs. 婢 (slave girl/maid): While both are subordinate, the concubine is integrated into the family structure, whereas the slave girl remains domestic staff.

When used as a pronoun, the glyph marks modesty and submission rather than legal rank; for example, a primary wife will often refer to herself as 妾 when addressing her husband or a social superior. Translating every instance as "this concubine" may introduce factual errors regarding the speaker's actual status. The tone is one of extreme deference, which may be genuine humility, ritualized politeness, or a strategic performance of submission.