ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

she / her

6 strokes · 女 (woman) + 也 · HSK 1

Where 她 comes from

她 = 女 (woman) + 也. Notice it's just 他 with the person radical swapped for the woman radical 女. Same sound (tā), female meaning.

她 in Chinese culture

Here's the surprise: 她 is barely 100 years old. Until the 1920s, Chinese wrote 他 for everyone — he, she, it. The poet and linguist Liu Bannong (刘半农) coined 她 around 1920 to translate Western texts that distinguished 'she'. It caused fierce debate at the time; now it's everywhere. You're learning one of the youngest characters in the language.

Example

她们 tāmen — they (all female)

她是老师。
Tā shì lǎoshī.
She is a teacher.

How to remember it

Woman (女) + 也 — the female version of 他: SHE.

她 was invented around 1920 by Liu Bannong — making it one of the newest Chinese characters. For 3,000 years before that, 他 meant he AND she.

Same sound, different tones

Words unlocked by 她

她是… tā shì…
she is…
她很好 tā hěn hǎo
she is very well
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