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. 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 , which indicates politeness, or by dropping part of a word and adding .
Some nyōbō kotoba passed into general usage and are today part of the standard Japanese language.
Examples Nyōbō kotoba Meaning Source dango rice with red beans toilet stomach fart (n.) dried bonito flakes kakimochi (type of rice cracker) tofu wife sweet potato cooked rice; food clear soup broth, miso soup rice ball steamed bun with filling to sleep (v.) hair carp rice paddle , sushi menstrual period salt garlic spring onion yukata (type of summer kimono)
See also Gender differences in spoken Japanese Japanese honorifics Begamati language — a sociolect of Urdu spoken by court ladies in purdah in Delhi
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