她

tā
也 + 女
HSK 2.0Level 1
HSK 3.0Level 1

Definitions

tā (pronoun) she

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound. Similar to 他 (he).

About

她 is a modern phonosemantic compound created as the feminine counterpart to 他 ('he'). It pairs the female radical 女 (meaning 'woman') on the left with the phonetic 也 on the right, which indicates the pronunciation tā without contributing meaning, just as in 他. The character was deliberately coined in the early 20th century to introduce a distinct written form for 'she', influenced by Western gendered pronouns. Before then, 他, originally a gender-neutral pronoun composed of the person radical 亻 and the same phonetic 也, was used for both male and female subjects. By replacing 亻 with 女, 她 visually marks the feminine gender while keeping the pronunciation tā, identical to 他.

Example Sentences Hide

她是我的朋友。

Tā shì wǒ de péngyou.

She is my friend.

她喜欢看书。

Tā xǐhuan kàn shū.

She likes to read books.

她经常帮助我。

Tā jīngcháng bāngzhù wǒ.

She often helps me.

昨天她去了学校。

Zuótiān tā qùle xuéxiào.

Yesterday she went to school.

她不仅聪明而且善良。

Tā bùjǐn cōngmíng érqiě shànliáng.

She is not only smart but also kind.

如果她有时间她会来。

Rúguǒ tā yǒu shíjiān tā huì lái.

If she has time, she will come.

她在事业上取得了巨大成功。

Tā zài shìyè shàng qǔdéle jùdà chénggōng.

She has achieved great success in her career.

尽管困难重重她坚持下来并最终实现了梦想。

Jǐnguǎn kùnnan chóngchóng tā jiānchí xiàlái bìng zuìzhōng shíxiànle mèngxiǎng.

Despite the difficulties, she persevered and eventually realized her dream.

Related Characters

Component: 也

他 地 也 池 驰 弛 祂 馳 貤 阤 迆 訑 虵 竾

Component: 女

要 如 好 女 安 始 委 威 妈 姐 娘 妇 婚 姑

Example Words

她们