Expert: Shannon G. - 9/12/2007

Question
My father once mentioned to me how his own father, a renowned Chinese-history expert(my grandfather once wrote book on the Chinese in Malaysia and one on the Boxer Rebellion) stated once that a particular  Chinese character/pictogram   meant either "woman" or "female", and that 2 of these pictograms/characters put together  meant "evil", and 3 of this same pictogram/character together had the meaning "disaster/catastrophe" etc. Since I don't know a word of Chinese, I have no way of confirming the veracity of this. My father was a bit sexist, so it could well be an urban-myth of sorts.(I should add that my grandfather could speak, read and write the  Cantonese and Mandarin dialects fluently, at the very least, and might have known others, so it might be from a specific dialect or something.

Thanks,
Geoff

Answer
Dear Geoff,

I guess that must be a certain dialect. In Mandarin, there is no such character or characters having the meanings mentioned by your grandfather.

Maybe you can ask him or your father what specific character it is.

Best wishes,
Shannon