Origin

The character 姉 combines the radical for "woman" or "female" on the left with a sound hint on the right. The left component 女 indicates this character refers to a female family member, while the right component 市 provides a rough pronunciation guide—it tells you how the character sounds rather than adding to its meaning. Together, the character specifically denotes an older female sibling within the family hierarchy.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).