OK, I know there’s a simple explanation…But this is driving nuts. When is it おんな and when is it じょ? Same Kanji, same meaning, no other kanji or hiragana to skew pronunciation. One has a purple background and the other pink. Please help me feel stupid, thanks.

When the background’s purple, it’s おんな - you’re reading it as a vocabulary word, exactly as you would if you encountered it on its own in the wild. When the background’s pink, it’s じょ - you’re learning the kanji reading which you’ll use as a component in other words like 女子 or 女王.

Thank you! I’ll work on remembering that.

men have been trying to understand women for millennia, so far with limited success. just keep going, you’ll find patterns.

vocabulary words are a bit harder. I still don’t know the difference between 少女, 女子、女の子

there’s none, all three mean the same “thing”. you can use them interchangeably. technically, 女の子 is a female child, 少女 a young female, 女子 a person of female nature, but that’s so slight nuances, not even the japanese bother with that.

女の子 contains hiragana, usually when you see that, it’s a hint to use kun-yomi, so おんな .

This might help. :slightly_smiling_face: [image] The final 女の子 / 女子 / 少女 / and all words for "girls" thread Japanese Language My goal is to make this the definitive thread to link to when the question comes up. Suggestions for more words are welcome. Examples of usages or…

Now that I have hit level three I have found that I am kind of encountering this same thing. I learned the on’yomi reading and then changed it up for the kun’yomi reading. Now those Kanji are coming back with the on’yomi and it is tripping me up. Just have to kind of learn both I suppose. :grin:

おんな....じょ why do you hate me so

WaniKani

Belthazar December 24, 2018, 8:25am 8

This might help.

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おんなのこ vs. じょし Japanese Only (Beginners)	1	923	July 6, 2020
Pronunciation for 女 Kanji	6	1538	April 23, 2018
Onna or Jiyo Japanese Language	4	2853	March 11, 2019
Differences between ways to say "girl"? Kanji	3	1092	January 17, 2021
Why Are Women So Complicated? Japanese Language	9	841	October 24, 2023

おんな....じょ why do you hate me so

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