Phrase guide

comfort woman

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A woman forced, or supposedly recruited, into brothels by the Japanese occupation forces before or during World War II.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: euphemistic, historical, idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a woman forced into prostitution for Japanese servicemen during World War II

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • she wrote a book about her harsh experiences as a comfort woman

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ianfu

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: prostitute, cocotte, whore, harlot, bawd, tart, cyprian, fancy woman, working girl, sporting lady, lady of pleasure, woman of the street

History

Etymology

Calque from Japanese 慰(い)安(あん)婦(ふ) (ianfu).

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: إِمْرَأَة مِتْعَة — forced prostitute
  • Arabic: نِسَاء مِتْعَة (nisāʔ mitʕa) — forced prostitute
  • Chinese Mandarin: 慰安婦 /慰安妇 (wèi'ānfù) — forced prostitute
  • Dutch: troostmeisje — forced prostitute
  • Esperanto: komfortulino — forced prostitute
  • Finnish: lohtunainen — forced prostitute
  • French: femme de réconfort — forced prostitute
  • German: Trostfrau — forced prostitute
  • Indonesian: wanita penghibur — forced prostitute
  • Japanese: 慰安婦 (ianfu) — forced prostitute
  • Japanese: 従軍慰安婦 (jūgun'ianfu) — forced prostitute
  • Korean: 위안부 (wianbu) — forced prostitute
  • Polish: kobieta do towarzystwa — forced prostitute
  • Portuguese: mulher de conforto — forced prostitute
  • Romanian: femeie de reconfortare — forced prostitute
  • Russian: же́нщина для комфо́рта (žénščina dlja komfórta) — forced prostitute
  • Spanish: mujer de consuelo — forced prostitute