Nyōbō kotoba

Nyōbō kotoba (女房言葉 or 女房詞) was a cant that was originally used by Japanese court ladies during the Muromachi era, and subsequently spread and came to be thought of as a general 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 o- (御), which indicates politeness, or by dropping part of a word and adding -moji (文字).

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