孃

Phono-semantic compound:

女 (여, “woman”) — denotes female, woman.

襄 (양, “to assist, to support”) — provides sound.

Thus originally “a woman of dignity or honor,” later extended to mean “young lady,” and in some contexts “mother.”

孃子 (양자) — young lady, miss

姑娘 (고량) — girl, maiden

孃孃 (냥냥) — affectionate term for “mother” (dialectal)

孃親 (양친) — mother (honorific)

Variant forms and usage differ by region:

In modern Mandarin, 孃 mostly appears in compounds (esp. dialects, literary/layered terms).

In Korean, “양” is still recognizable as “아가씨, 여성.”

In Japanese, used in archaic or honorific contexts.