noun
professional female mourner; keener
A woman hired to wail and mourn at funerals, a practice seen in some traditional cultures. The term is primarily historical or ethnographic.
See also: 泣き男
昔の葬式では、泣き女が大声で泣いて故人を悼んだ。
At old-fashioned funerals, professional female mourners would wail loudly to lament the deceased.
この地域にはまだ
The custom of hiring keeners still remains in this region.
泣き女 is the female counterpart; 泣き男 refers to a male professional mourner.
Compound of 泣き (naki, 'crying') + 女 (onna, 'woman').