ゐなぐ【女子】 : winagu | define meaning

Cognate with Yoron ふなぐ funagu; Okinawan ゐなぐ winagu; and standard Japanese おなご【女子】 onago "girl, woman", historically をみなご wominago and later をんなご wonnago. Ultimately derived from をみな womina "woman" and the rendaku form of the diminutive suffix こ【子】 -ko.

Historical Ryukyuan attestations

• おもろさうし Omoro Saushi (1531-1623) records "おなこ" and "おな".
• Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo island, in the Japan Sea (1818), by Herbert John Clifford, records "Woman. Innágo", "Daughter. Innágo oóngua, or úngua", "Child, female (literally woman-child). Innágo wórrabee", "Young woman. Wock'ka innágo", "Loo-Choo women are not very handsome. Doóchoo innágo fwhoócoo oórung", "If a Loo-Choo woman should see you she will be alarmed. Doóchoo innágo I'ngere meéoong náchoong" and "A woman leaning on an anchor. Innágo kákatong eéki".
• Voyage of His Majesty's Ship Alceste: Along the Coast of Corea, to the Island of Lewchew, with an Account of Her Subsequent Shipwreck (1818), by John M'Leod, records "Woman. Inago".
• Essay in Aid of a Grammar and Dictionary of the Luchuan Language (1895), by Basil Hall Chamberlain, records "Wunna, a woman. (Jap. onna.)" and "Winagu, a woman: winagu-n'gwa, a girl; winagu nu uya, a mother. (Jap. onago.)".