女子（じょし、joshi）
- girl

The Japanese word 女子 (じょし) primarily means "girls" or "women." It refers to female individuals, often those who are young or of a certain age group. It can also describe a group or a specific type of woman, depending on the context. The word emphasizes the feminine gender. The meaning varies based on the context in which it's used. For example, it might be used to describe schoolgirls, young women in general, or the women in a particular field or area.

⚫︎女子高生 Translation: High school girl ⚫︎女子サッカー Translation: Women's soccer ⚫︎女子アナ Translation: Female announcer

⚫︎女子 is used to refer to females in a variety of situations. ⚫︎It's common in contexts like sports (e.g., 女子 volleyball team), education (e.g., 女子 high school), and media (e.g., news about 女子 athletes). ⚫︎It's generally a polite and neutral way to refer to women and girls. ⚫︎You can use it to describe a group of girls/women (e.g., "The 女子 are here.") or specify the gender when talking about a certain category. ⚫︎When referring to adults, it might sound a bit more casual than using more formal terms.

⚫︎The word is most commonly written in kanji as 女子. ⚫︎The reading is じょし (in hiragana). ⚫︎There isn't a katakana version. ⚫︎There are no variations in okurigana. ⚫︎女子 itself is the kanji form, and there are no other widely used ways to write it.

⚫︎女性 (じょせい): woman, female (more formal) ⚫︎女の子 (おんなのこ): girl (more informal) ⚫︎婦人 (ふじん): woman, lady (often implies maturity or a higher social status) ⚫︎ガール (gaaru): girl (borrowed word from English, used in some contexts) ⚫︎おんな (onna): Woman(This is a less formal way of saying "woman". Be careful with this term.)

⚫︎男子 (だんし): boys, men.

この学校は、女子生徒が多いです。 ・Translation: This school has many female students. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 女子 to specify that the students being discussed are female.

彼女は、女子マラソンの選手です。 ・Translation: She is a female marathon runner. ・Explanation: The word 女子 is used to specify that the marathon runner is a female.

The word 女子 is a combination of two kanji: 女 (onna), meaning "woman" or "female," and 子 (shi, or ko when used as a suffix), often meaning "child" or "person." Together, they create a term that specifically refers to females, especially those who are young. The use of 子 here is not necessarily indicating that all the females are young, but that they are to be addressed with more neutral terms instead of formal or overly polite words.