女性
nǔxìng · HSK 5
woman
👩 女 (woman) + 性 (nature/gender) = female gender / womankind
女性 literally combines 女 (nǚ, woman) with 性 (xìng, nature, sex, gender). The same 性 appears in 男性 (male) and 个性 (personality), so 女 fixes the meaning to the female side.
女 — pictograph of a kneeling woman
女 is a pictograph originating in oracle bone script, depicting a person kneeling with arms crossed in front, a posture associated with women in ancient China. Over time the form was simplified and squared off into the modern character. Its core meaning of 'woman' or 'female' has remained stable for over three thousand years.
性 — heart radical 忄 + 生 (life/birth)
性 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 忄 supplies the meaning, pointing to inner feelings or innate qualities, while 生 ('birth, life') gives the sound and hints at what one is born with. It originally meant 'inborn nature' and later extended to 'character,' 'gender,' and 'sex.'