女子|じょしjoshi[1]atamadaka (head-high)

1. nounwoman; girl
   このクラスには１５人にんの男子だんしと２８人にんの女子じょしがいる。↗

   This class consists of 15 boys and 28 girls.

• Synonymお嬢さんおじょうさんFormalA polite way to refer to someone's daughter or address a young lady; 「女子」 is neutral and mostly used for classification.
• Synonym娘むすめNeutralRefers to young women, often as a suffix as in 「田中嬢」; nowadays it can also denote women in the adult-entertainment trade, so use with care.
• Synonym少女しょうじょNeutralOccasionally written 「少女」 but read 「おとめ」, with a poetic feel, as in 「乙女座」; 「少女」 is normally read 「しょうじょ」.
• Synonym女の子おんなのこCasualColloquial term for a girl or young woman; the most common everyday choice, and friendlier than 「女子」.
• SynonymガールCasualLoanword for girl, used mostly in compounds such as 「ガールズトーク」.
• Synonym女児じょじFormalFormal term for a young girl, frequent in statistics and medical writing; stresses young age.
• Synonym娘子じょうしWrittenWritten word for a girl or woman, with an archaic flavor; rarely used in modern Japanese.
• Synonym乙女おとめWrittenWritten word for a maiden, as in 「乙女心」, with an innocent, romantic feel; 「女子」 leans toward a classificatory term.
• SynonymヤングレディーCasualLoanword for a young lady; fairly rare, seen mainly in ads and magazines.
• Synonym童女どうじょWrittenWritten word for a young girl, with an archaic flavor; in daily speech say 「女の子」.
• Synonym嬢さんじょうさんNeutralPolite term for a young lady of good upbringing; less common nowadays.
• Antonym男子だんしNeutralThe counterpart of 「女子」 for males, as in 「男子校」 and 「男子トイレ」.

Use 「女子」 when grouping people by sex, as in schools or sports: 「女子校」, 「女子マラソン」. For a woman in general say 「女性」, in casual talk 「女の子」. Address a young lady as 「お嬢さん」, use 「女児」 for young girls, and 「男子」 for males.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 女の子おんなのこ。
2. むすめ。
3. 女おんなの人ひと、女性じょせい。