The Chinese character 婦 (fù), means woman, female, or wife. The original meaning of the character referred to the woman of the house cleaning.
The right part of the character developed from the Oracle script to to 帚 (zhǒu), a sweeping implement or broom. The left part is 女 (nǚ), the woman radical. Together, they infer the original meaning of the character, that of a woman sweeping or keeping house.
Both the composition and the meaning of the character convey the traditional concept of gender roles: women do the housework, such as sweeping and cleaning in the house, while men work outside and farm the land or hunt.
The character 婦 fù is used as a noun. When combined with other characters, it forms words that share similar meanings, such as 新 婦 (xīn fù), newly-married woman or bride; 少 婦 (shào fù) young, married woman, or 主 婦 (zhǔ fù) housewife or hostess.
The meaning of the character has also expanded to mean women or females, in general, such as in the word 婦 女 (fù nǚ), woman.
