Nyōbō kotoba

Nyōbō kotoba (女房言葉 or 女房詞 lit. "woman's words") was a cant that was originally used by Japanese court ladies during the Muromachi era, and subsequently spread and came to be thought of as a general women's language. It consisted primarily of a special vocabulary of words for food, clothing, and other household items.

Many nyōbō kotoba words were formed by adding the prefix o-, which indicates politeness, or by dropping part of a word and adding -moji, meaning "character, letter".

Some nyōbō kotoba words passed into general usage, and are today part of the standard Japanese language.

See also

• Gender differences in spoken Japanese
• Japanese honorifics