夫人

ふじん · fujin · JLPT N3 · noun

Mrs

夫人 — Mrs

💍 夫 husband + 人 person = the husband's person: his wife, Madam

Originally a title for a lord's wife, so it stays polite: you use it for someone else's wife, as in 大統領夫人, the president's wife. Don't mix it up with 婦人 (also fujin), which means woman in general.

人 — pictograph of a standing person
人 is a pictograph showing a person viewed from the side, with two strokes representing the legs and torso of a standing human. In oracle bone script it clearly depicted a figure leaning slightly forward. The meaning has remained 'person' or 'human' throughout its history.

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