How to Write 奴 (nú) — Meaning “slave; servant”

Picture a woman (女) raising her right hand (又) as a sign of surrender or servitude. Alternatively, imagine the hand holding a chain attached to the woman, reinforcing the idea of being owned or controlled. This visual of a woman with a hand over her helps you recall that 奴 means 'slave' or 'servant'.

Start with the left component 女: write the three strokes as a folded line, then a horizontal slanting line, then a long horizontal stroke. Next, write 又 on the right: first a curved horizontal stroke, then a left-slanting stroke, and finally a small hook stroke at the bottom. Common mistakes include making the 女 too wide or misplacing the hook on 又, which should clearly point upward.

女 alone means 'woman' or 'female', without any additional meaning of servitude, while 奴 always implies a role of subjugation. 奶 (nǎi) adds the radical 乃 to 女 and means 'milk' or 'breast', related to nursing mothers. Visually, 奴 has an extra right-hand component 又, whereas 奶 has a different right side with a curved stroke.

奴 appears in formal words like 奴隶 (slave) and 守财奴 (miser, literally 'money-guarding slave'). It also appears in 奴才, a historical term for a servile person, now used figuratively for a sycophant. While rarely used alone, its compounds carry strong negative connotations of extreme servility or greed, so be careful when using them in conversation.

Common words containing 奴 include: 奴隶 (nú lì) — slave; 守财奴 (shǒu cái nú) — Miser or skinflint.; 奴才 (nú cái) — flunky; sycophant.