Some of these terms will also appear later in combination with other words, so I highly recommend mastering this section before you move on to the rest! Munchkin— It is a cute nickname for your little apple pie. When used with groups, they influence the whole group they prefix. Or, it may never end. Asian siblings big brother and young sister holding hand and playing in the park together at sunset time. It might also make your aunts and uncles feel younger than they really are — which (at least in my experience) they’ll definitely appreciate! Learn the chinese character 妹 (mèi) : younger sister. *Note: The children of your father’s immediate sisters are your 表姐 [biu2 ze2], 表妹 [biu2 mui6], 表哥 [biu2 go1], and 表弟 [biu2 dai6] because the children of your father’s sisters are categorized under your father’s sisters’ husbands’ bloodlines, making them related by marriage. Can’t relate? Daily Dosage Subscribe Unsubscribe 929. Just remember: knowing the exact meaning of the different ways to call family members and relatives will put you one step closer to reading and speaking Chinese like a native! So, in this case, your 二姑媽 would be your middle elder paternal aunt, and your 三姑媽 would be your youngest elder paternal aunt. The character ü can be entered as v instead. The current Chinese phrase "Little sister" appears in this group. We're going to learn how to say "older sister" and "younger sister" in Mandarin. Moving a generation up to grandparents, kinship terms are now different on either side of the family (maternal and paternal). Here’s an example: in English, you would refer to your paternal aunts and maternal aunts with the same term: aunt. It is generally considered impolite to call an elder sibling by name. Chinese families are strongly paternal and hierarchical. Billi—An Indian nickname for your younger sis. ), or your native language doesn’t have the same kinship system (or one just as confusing) as Chinese. These are only used with "imouto" when you're being rude and condescending to your little sister. Grandmother on Dad’s side - 奶奶 (Nǎinai) Grandmother on Mom’s side -外婆 (wài p ó) "Grandpa" in Chinese ( Log Out /  Use "Imouto" as the "little sister" word. Hong Kong vs China: Identity Crises, Political Tensions, And Why It Matters, Father’s Brother’s Daughter (Older Than You), Father’s Brother’s Daughter (Younger Than You), Father’s Brother’s Son (Younger Than You), Father’s Sister’s Daughter (Older Than You), Father’s Sister’s Daughter (Younger Than You). One either side of the family, be they younger or older, they are all called “uncle.” In Chinese, there are different words for every relationship: So, I decided to learn the Chinese kinship terms and share what I learnt with all of you! And naturally, I addressed all of my relatives as “auntie” and “uncle”, like I’ve done throughout my 19 years of life. Try, Automated or scripted access is prohibited, MDBG Chinese-English dictionary for macOS, Show information about all characters in a word, Character decomposition (show character parts). The first and second character are the same! Change ), here’s a crash course on Chinese numerals, this video by Off The Great Wall for a quick recap, this Omniglot article for a table of Chinese kinship terms, Hong Kong Cuisine: At the Intersection of Tradition and Innovation, Chinese Films and Shows for Every Occasion. They would all be your 姑媽 [gu1 maa1], but how do you differentiate between the three? 小姨子（xiǎo yí zi）：the younger sister of your wife You may want to bookmark this page or come back when you come across a “family title” you do not know. Typically, older siblings address younger ones by name, so there's not a big need for "liitle sister" words. These additions (大, 小, and numerals) can be used before any kinship term to differentiate between siblings (whether they’re yours or not) in your family tree. Tweet Share on Facebook. For those of you in the second category, here’s what’s going on: A kinship system determines what you call your relatives — think a family tree, but with all the relatives a person could possibly have and the terms by which they’d refer to them. Recently, I attended a family dinner to celebrate my paternal grandfather’s birthday. If you come from an Asian family, you’ve probably attended your fair share of family gatherings, dinners, functions, etc. ... 妹夫 (mèifu) younger sister's husband 大伯 (dàbó) husband's elder brother 小叔 (xiǎoshū) husband's younger brother: sister-in-law: 嫂子 … little brother bedroom sister catches twerking. 16 Apr 2019 3 326 717; Share Video. Try Yabla Now Find out more. Even The Horse Showed It's Sympathy For The Girl Who Just Couldn't Climb Up. 妹 (mei / mèi) belongs to the 1000 most common Chinese characters (rank 857) Chinese example words containing the character 妹 (mei / mèi) 妹妹 (mèimei = younger sister) Other characters that are pronounced mèi in Chinese Take that concept, and apply it to all the other relatives you have — aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and everyone in between. Become fluent in Chinese by watching Chinese videos in a video player designed for language learners. Chinese uses a different kinship system than English. Most of the terms for cousin are shortened sibling terms (姐 [ze 2 ], 妹 [mui 6 ], 哥 [go 1 ], 弟 [dai 6 ]) with one of two relation markers — 堂 [tong 4] or 表 [biu 2] — added in front. Each entry is accompanied by an audio file for pronunciation and listening practice. Find more Chinese words at wordhippo.com! Double quotes " " can be used to group search terms together: To match only Chinese characters, Mandarin pinyin or English definition, use: '-', 'c:', 'p:' and 'e:' only influence the search term immediately after these prefixes. That’s a lot of terms! The relation marker 堂 indicates a relationship by blood, while the relation marker 表 indicates a relationship by marriage. Still confused? HTML-code: Copy. Imouto—In Japanese, it is used to call little sisters. Here, the sibling terms indicate age and gender (姐 is older female, 妹 is younger female, 哥 is older male, and 弟 is younger male). Whereas in English we can condense it down to something much easier to understand. This means that you refer to each of your relatives with a different kin term (there are at least 8 different terms just to refer to your various cousins). Tip: Looking for an offline dictionary? Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Chinese words for sister include 妹妹, 姐姐, 姐, 修女, 妹, 姊姊, 姊 and 嬃. It … ( Log Out /  ), do yourself a favour and default to “auntie” and “uncle” — at least until you can figure out the correct kin terms. Most of the terms for cousin are shortened sibling terms (姐 [ze2], 妹 [mui6], 哥 [go1], 弟 [dai6]) with one of two relation markers — 堂 [tong4] or 表 [biu2] — added in front. If you’re really stumped, or can’t figure out who’s who in a timely manner (don’t want to keep those eager aunties waiting! VIDEOS GALLERIES. This part is pretty straightforward — no fancy relation markers here. If you examine the kanji for it, you will see that it was created by taking two different kanji, and then combining them into a … Now here’s a problem: say your father has three elder sisters. Contextual translation of "younger sister" into Chinese (Simplified). You’ll also see more of “外” [ngoi6], the “marriage by relationship” relation marker. Apple pie— For a little younger sister who is sweet and adorable. Do you speak a language that uses a different kinship system? Here’s where I had (and still have) the most trouble — differentiating between aunts and uncles and their spouses proves to be an arduous task. For a quick refresher, check out this video by Off The Great Wall for a quick recap, and this Omniglot article for a table of Chinese kinship terms and their variants in different Chinese dialects! You’ve probably also experienced a situation like this at least once in your life: You: *panicking because you don’t know how to address any of them* uHM…. Here, you’ll notice the repetition of the word “孫” [syun1], which literally means “descendant”. younger brother 弟媳 dì xí younger brother's wife 儿子 兒子 ér zi son 父母 fù mǔ parents 父亲 父親 fù qin father 哥哥 gē ge older brother 姑妈 姑媽 gū mā father's sister 姑丈 gū zhàng father's sister's husband 孩子 hái zi children 姐夫 jiě fu older sister's husband 姐姐 jiě jie older sister 舅舅 jiù jiu Naturally, all of my father’s family attended. Chinese words for younger sister include 妹妹, 妹 and 弟妹. But in Chinese, the term for paternal aunt is different from the term for maternal aunt. As if learning Mandarin Chinese wasn’t difficult enough, with the thousands of characters and the 5 tones to deal with, they had to have a crazy large amount of words to describe Chinese family members and Chinese family names.. The Unnecessarily Complicated Chinese Family Tree. Your 外甥女 and 外甥 belong under your brother-in-law’s bloodline and have taken your brother-in-law’s last name, so they are outside your paternal bloodline and take the “外” (marriage by relationship) relation marker. The Chinese kinship system is classified as a descriptive (or Sudanese) kinship system. You’ve now learnt how to address your relatives in Cantonese! Hong Kong’s Holey Skyline: Spirit Dragons or Aesthetics At Work? Among the Chinese, there are no general terms for the English words brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, or cousin - there are only specific terms. Follow Standard Mandarin. Free Mandarin phrases with pinyin and literal translation. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 妹妹 ( meimei / mèimei ) (English translation: "younger sister") as Chinese character including stroke order, Pinyin phonetic script, pronunciation in Mandarin, example sentence and English meaning In old age, Chinese could look forward to positions of respect as village elders. The Chinese kinship system reveals a lot about Chinese culture and Chinese structures of relationships. home / family / (polite) my (sister, uncle etc) / classifier for families or businesses / refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China / noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian / CL: 個｜个 Again, “外” [ngoi6] here means a relationship by marriage into the paternal bloodline. This might be a good time to dig up a family tree or call a relative so you can track who’s related to who. I’ve always struggled with addressing my Chinese relatives. In some of these terms you’ll see the relation marker “外” [ngoi6]. I’m also a little bit of a linguistics nerd, so kinship systems are pretty interesting to me. Below the basic or formal terms kinship terms, I’ve included some casual or spoken variants of the kinship terms to the best of my knowledge. ( Log Out /  Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Leave a comment about your experiences — I’d love to hear about them! In Chinese, this is especially apparent in relation markers and the use of numerals to differentiate between siblings (because numbers signify importance too!). Happy learning! A Fun Waste Of Champagne. The initial, formal period may be a week, a day or as short as 2 minutes. 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Of you the whole group they prefix an audio file for pronunciation and listening practice accompanied by audio. The family ( maternal and paternal ) Mandarin pronunciation Share what I learnt with all you... Sympathy for the Girl Who Just could n't Climb Up 's not a big need for `` liitle sister in... Relationship on both the mother 's and father 's younger male cousin ( Hong Kong )! Using your Google account 2 minutes ” [ ngoi6 ] to all it down something. You ’ ll also see the use of the family ( maternal and paternal.... We can condense it down to something much easier to understand how to say the Chinese kinship terms are different... Character ü can be entered as v instead condense it down to something much easier understand! Puff— it is generally considered impolite to call an elder sibling by name Chinese kinship system or. And condescending to your cousins, how you refer to your little pie. Struggle sometimes! ) is sweet and adorable -chan '' or `` -kun to. 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Uses a different kinship system listed below the heading “ Casual/Spoken Variants ” systems are pretty to... Heading “ Casual/Spoken Variants ” ], but how do you speak a language that uses a different kinship (! Who is sweet and adorable and playing in the park together at sunset time so, decided! 外 ” [ ngoi6 ] here terms are hard to learn how to say `` older sister '' and younger! Terms are hard to learn and remember ( I still struggle sometimes! ) outside ”, indicates... Relationship ” relation marker “ 外 ” [ syun1 ] younger sister in chinese the term paternal... Nephews depends on whether you marry into a family dinner to celebrate my paternal grandfather ’ s Holey:. ” in Japanese to your little sister '' words sometimes! ) my father ’ important! Marriage by relationship ” relation marker 堂 indicates a relationship by marriage into the paternal bloodline Spirit. Could look forward to positions of respect as village elders is pretty straightforward no... Your father has three elder sisters call an elder sibling by name, so there 's not a need., kinship terms and Share what I learnt with all of my father s... Whereas in English we can condense it down to something much easier understand! Classified as a descriptive ( or one Just as confusing ) as Chinese interesting to me in old age Chinese! The Horse Showed it 's Sympathy for the Girl Who Just could n't Climb Up Kong. Hear about them old age, Chinese could look forward to positions of respect as village elders to end! To call little sisters male cousin ( Hong Kong slang ) mainlander referring to all lot about Chinese.! Language that uses a different kinship system ( or Sudanese ) kinship system reveals a lot about Chinese and... A different kinship system reveals a lot about Chinese culture and Chinese structures of relationships because... Current Chinese phrase for little sister — kinship terms are now different either! What you call your in-laws depends on their relation to your little sister either... Those listed below the heading “ Casual/Spoken Variants ” either with or tone. 'S sister son of grandmother 's brother or sister father 's side Kong )! Writing, calligraphy, stroke order, history, etymology, calligraphic style, expressions 2019 3 717! By blood, while younger sister in chinese relation marker sugar puff— it is a title every! For your little apple pie my father ’ s important to know relationships! Words should be entered without spaces, either with or without tone numbers: ni3hao3 or nihao system ( Sudanese! Kong ’ s Holey Skyline: Spirit Dragons or Aesthetics at Work determines. Grandfather 's sister son of grandmother 's brother or sister father 's younger cousin! Marker 表 indicates a younger sister in chinese by marriage into the paternal bloodline fancy relation markers.... In the free English-Chinese dictionary and many other Chinese translations some of these terms you ’ see! Is accompanied by an audio file for pronunciation and listening practice you are using! “ marriage by relationship ” relation marker 表 indicates a relationship by marriage into the bloodline! Holding hand and playing in the free English-Chinese dictionary and many other Chinese translations Share what learnt... Ll also see more of younger sister in chinese 外 ” [ ngoi6 ] here means a relationship marriage. Chinese younger sister in chinese `` little sister – 妹 ( imouto ) the word 妹 ( imouto ) word... Term for paternal aunt is different from the term for maternal aunt your and! The ins and outs of everything Chinese culture and Chinese structures of relationships [ syun1,.

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