Meanings
plural comfort women
- euphemistichistoricalidiomaticA woman forced, or supposedly recruited, into brothels by the Japanese occupation forces before or during World War II.
She carefully watches the efforts of Koreans who are suing Japan to get reparations for the comfort women. It was only in 1993 that Japan formally recognized its involvement in the forced prostitution.
1995 September 10, Jane H. Lii, “The Memories of a Comfort Woman”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna woman forced into prostitution for Japanese servicemen during World War II
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Calque from Japanese 慰(い)安(あん)婦(ふ) (ianfu).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic إِمْرَأَة مِتْعَة, نِسَاء مِتْعَة
- إِمْرَأَة مِتْعَةforced prostitute
- نِسَاء مِتْعَة (nisāʔ mitʕa)forced prostitute
Chinese Mandarin 慰安婦 /慰安妇
- 慰安婦 /慰安妇 (wèi'ānfù)forced prostitute
Dutch troostmeisje
- troostmeisjeforced prostitute
Esperanto komfortulino
- komfortulinoforced prostitute
Finnish lohtunainen
- lohtunainenforced prostitute
French femme de réconfort
- femme de réconfortforced prostitute
German Trostfrau
- Trostfrauforced prostitute
Indonesian wanita penghibur
- wanita penghiburforced prostitute
Japanese 慰安婦, 従軍慰安婦
- 慰安婦 (ianfu)forced prostitute
- 従軍慰安婦 (jūgun'ianfu)forced prostitute
Korean 위안부
- 위안부 (wianbu)forced prostitute
Polish kobieta do towarzystwa
- kobieta do towarzystwaforced prostitute
Portuguese mulher de conforto
- mulher de confortoforced prostitute
Romanian femeie de reconfortare
- femeie de reconfortareforced prostitute
Russian же́нщина для комфо́рта
- же́нщина для комфо́рта (žénščina dlja komfórta)forced prostitute
Spanish mujer de consuelo
- mujer de consueloforced prostitute
Cite this entry
comfort woman. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comfort%20woman
“comfort woman.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comfort%20woman. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “comfort woman,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/comfort%20woman.
Source: comfort woman on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.