Nyōbō kotoba (Japanese: 女房言葉 or 女房詞, lit.
'woman's words') 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 nyōbō kotoba words were formed by adding the prefix o- (御), which indicates politeness,[2] or by dropping part of a word and adding -moji (文字, lit.
Some nyōbō kotoba passed into general usage and are today part of the standard Japanese language.