彼女
かのじょ
hepburn kanojo
she, her, girlfriend
Part of speech · pronoun
Pattern visualization
Examples
- 彼女は日本人です。She is Japanese.
- 彼女と映画を見ました。I watched a movie with my girlfriend.
Collocations
彼女は (kanojo wa, she-topic)彼女の (kanojo no, her)彼女ができる (kanojo ga dekiru, get a girlfriend)彼女いない歴 (kanojo inai reki, "no-girlfriend history")元カノ (motokano, ex-girlfriend, casual)
Mnemonic
彼女 kanojo — a Meiji-era coinage adding 女 to 彼, made to translate English "she". Same double meaning: (1) third-person feminine pronoun, (2) "girlfriend". Like 彼, the girlfriend reading dominates conversational use. 元カノ (motokano, katakana style) = "ex-girlfriend" — casual neologism. The bookish feel of the pronoun use is why everyday Japanese prefers names.
Quick check
Origin of the word 彼女?