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What semantic notions underlie 女 (woman) with 妖 (goblin, fradulent, gorgeous)?

Chinese Language Asked by NNOX Apps on October 1, 2020

p 1122, ABC Chinese–English Comprehensive Dictionary (2003). I can’t access the "slightly revised through July 2005" ed.

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CUHK doesn’t expound. I quote Yellowbridge.

  1. Did misogyny or foot binding beget this semantic shift?

  2. I’m fascinated that a compound like 男 + 天 doesn’t exist. So why did 女 become the semantic component? Why not some gender-neutral left radical?

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2 Answers

Here is the entry for 妖 from the Outlier dictionary:

FORM
妖 yāo is composed of 夭 yāo (also yǎo) and 女 “woman; female; people in general,” pointing to the original meaning “gorgeous, lovely.” 夭 gives the sound.

COMPONENTS

In 妖, 女 “woman; female; people in general” is a meaning component, pointing to the original meaning “gorgeous, lovely.”


In 妖 yāo, 夭 yāo (also yǎo) is a sound component.

MEANINGS
Character meanings
yāo

1 (orig.) gorgeous, lovely
2 → seductive, bewitching
‎‎‎ 3 ⇒ witch
  4 ⇛ devil, demon
  5 ⇛ weird, strange

The meaning tree is especially helpful for seeing how word meanings evolved over time. They also cite a reference for this work:

王力 主編,2000《王力古漢語字典》,北京:中華書局,2007年重印。p. 189

The reference might have more of the same if that is what you are looking for.

To answer your other question: 男 is very rarely used as a character component; if something were related to men, you’d more than likely see a 亻component instead. ⿰亻夭 does have its own character: 仸.

Answered by Mo. on October 1, 2020

妖 itself can have both the meaning of "seduction" and "evil", the word 妖艳 (coquettish) is such an example. So 妖 is not naturally linked with 女.

Also in Chinese culture many supernatural beings harm people indirectly via hypnosis (or say, causing mental damage), that's where the "seduction" comes in.

Answered by Guotai Shen on October 1, 2020

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