Origin

This character combines a woman (女) on the left with a component suggesting something twisted or unnatural (夭) on the right. In old Chinese thinking, an attractive or bewitching woman — especially one who seemed unusual or otherworldly — was associated with supernatural danger and calamity. The two parts together create the sense of something alluring but ominous, a beauty that brings misfortune or eeriness. Over time, the character came to mean both the surface appeal (attractive, bewitching) and the underlying danger (calamity).

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).