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is a Japanese word for "girl".〔The word ''girl'' in English has complex meanings, and care is needed in its use. See Francoeur, R.T., Martha Cornog, Timothy Perper, and Norman A. Scherzer 1995 ''The Complete Dictionary of Sexology, New Expanded Edition.'' New York: Continuum.〕 The word is originally derived from a Chinese expression written with the same characters.〔Because of the difficulty of inputting macrons on many computers, "shôjo" and "shöjo" are also common and acceptable renderings, although "shōjo" is preferred.)〕 The Chinese characters (少 and 女) literally mean ''young/little'' and ''woman'' respectively.〔Yuen Ren Chao and Lien Sheng Yong. 1962. ''Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (No ISBN). 少 is radical #42, page 64. 女 is radical #38, page 54, meaning ''woman'' or ''female.'' 女 can be used as either a noun or an adjective.〕 In Japanese, these kanji refer specifically to a young woman approximately 7–18 years old.〔Shogakukan Daijisen Editorial Staff (1998), (Dictionary of the Japanese language), Revised Edition. Tokyo: Shogakukan. ISBN 978-4-09-501212-4.〕 ==Etymology== Like most kanji compounds, the term shōjo is borrowed from Classical Chinese characters. The original term is written as "少女", which could be pronounced as ''shào nǚ'' in Mandarin (pinyin romanization), ''so nyŏ'' in Korean (McCune-Reischauer romanization), ''thiếu nữ'' in Vietnamese, and ''shōjo'' in Japanese (Hepburn romanization). The earliest surviving written record of the term 少女 is on the Book of the Later Han, published in China in the 5th century, in Chapter 86, The myth of Yao, referring to young girls.〔(Chinese Dictionary, Department of Education of Republic of China )〕 In the 7th century, the word was introduced into the Japanese language through the adoption of the Chinese-style Ritsuryō legal system, where it referred to females between the ages of 17 and 20.〔〔清水民子『女の子はどう育つか : 少女期その世界と発達』新日本出版社、1989年4月、ISBN 4-406-01723-2〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shōjo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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