How to Write 妞 (niū) — Meaning “Girl”

Imagine a little girl (女) making a funny, ugly face (丑) – that's a playful niū. The sound 'niū' also reminds me of 'new', so think of a new little girl making faces.

Write the left radical 女 first in three strokes: 撇点, 撇, 横. Then add the right part 丑 with four strokes: 横折, 竖, 横, 横. A common mistake is to make the top horizontal of 丑 too long; it should be shorter than the bottom horizontal.

妞 uses 丑 (ugly) on the right, while 奴 uses 又 (hand) and 奶 uses 乃 (a hook shape). Visually, 丑 has two horizontal lines and a vertical line, 又 looks like a cross, and 乃 is like a curved stroke. Their meanings are also different: 妞 means 'girl', 奴 means 'slave', and 奶 means 'milk' or 'breast'.

妞 is an informal word for 'girl' used mainly in northern Chinese dialects. You’ll see it in nicknames like 妞妞 (Niuniu) or phrases like 小妞 (little girl) and 傻妞 (silly girl). It is considered affectionate or teasing but should be avoided in formal writing.

Common words containing 妞 include: 妞妞 (niū niū) — Niuniu (a common nickname for a girl); 小妞 (xiǎo niū) — Little girl; 傻妞 (shǎ niū) — silly girl.