Nyōbō kotoba

{{More citations needed|date=July 2023}}

{{Nihongo||女房言葉 {{Lang|en|or}} 女房詞|Nyōbō kotoba|{{lit|woman's words}}|lead=yes}} was a cant that was originally used by Japanese court ladies during the Muromachi period, and subsequently spread and came to be thought of as a women's language. It consisted primarily of a special vocabulary of words for food, clothing, and other household items.{{cite journal |last1=Nicolae |first1=Raluca |title=An Historical Perspective on Women's Speech in Japanese |journal=Journal of Research in Gender Studies |date=2014 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=236–250}} Many of the created words were descriptions of the thing they were naming, whether that was a description of a characteristic, shape, color, or usage.

Many nyōbō kotoba words were formed by adding the prefix {{Nihongo||御|o-}}, which indicates politeness,{{cite journal |last1=Ide |first1=Sachiko |title=Japanese sociolinguistics politeness and women's language |journal=Lingua |date=1982 |volume=57 |pages=357–385 |doi=10.1016/0024-3841(82)90009-2}} or by dropping part of a word and adding {{Nihongo||文字|-moji|{{lit|character, letter}}}}.

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