Woman
female adult human
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Anatomically the general female characteristic of human sexual dimorphism is the human female reproductive system, which includes the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina, and vulva. Accompanying characteristics are larger breasts, which might produce human milk, and generally a wider pelvis and broader hips. These characteristics facilitate pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Additional common characteristics are less facial and body hair, a higher body fat composition, shorter stature, and less muscle mass. Women are at greater risk of certain diseases like breast cancer, and at lower risk of other diseases like lung cancer. Genetically, women inherit typically a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent. Sex differentiation of the female foetus is governed by the lack of a present functioning SRY gene on either one of the respective sex chromosomes.
Transgender women were assigned male at birth.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Woman” is female adult human. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Woman, female and adult, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “female adult human” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q467. The Library of Congress control number is sh85147274. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Woman”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Woman primary sources, Woman archive and Woman research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Woman”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Woman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.