Happy learning! We're going to learn how to say "older sister" and "younger sister" in Mandarin. Words for family members and other relatives in Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua), a Sinitic language spoken in China, Taiwan and many other places. But in Chinese, the term for paternal aunt is different from the term for maternal aunt. In some of these terms you’ll see the relation marker “外” [ngoi6]. You’ll also see the use of the relation marker “外” [ngoi6] here. 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. Learn the chinese character 妹 (mèi) : younger sister. 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). exploring the ins and outs of everything chinese culture. Each entry is accompanied by an audio file for pronunciation and listening practice. Or, it may never end. I’ve always struggled with addressing my Chinese relatives. Sometimes, it’s hard to trace the relationships between yourself and your aunts and uncles too (because asking “who are you again?” without making the situation awkward is a feat in itself). Munchkin— It is a cute nickname for your little apple pie. Tweet Share on Facebook. ( Log Out /  Imouto—In Japanese, it is used to call little sisters. Many Chinese kinship terms incorporate words that indicate different types of relations (I’ll call them relation markers), especially relations by blood and by marriage. Chinese families are strongly paternal and hierarchical. 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…. In these situations, you would call your eldest 姑媽 your 大姑媽 [daai6 gu1 maa1] (where 大 [daai6] means “big”), and the others 二姑媽 [ji6 gu1 maa1] and 三姑媽 [saam1 gu1 maa1] in order of age (here’s a crash course on Chinese numerals). “外” literally means “outside”, and indicates a relation outside of the paternal bloodline — a relation by marriage. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Translation for 'younger sister' in the free English-Chinese dictionary and many other Chinese translations. 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. Chinese uses a different kinship system than English. Apple pie— For a little younger sister who is sweet and adorable. ... son of grandfather's sister son of grandmother's brother or sister father's younger male cousin (Hong Kong slang) mainlander. Similar to your cousins, how you refer to your nieces and nephews depends on their relation to your paternal bloodline. Still confused? Even The Horse Showed It's Sympathy For The Girl Who Just Couldn't Climb Up. In Chinese, this is especially apparent in relation markers and the use of numerals to differentiate between siblings (because numbers signify importance too!). There is a title for every family relationship on both the mother's and father's side. ( Log Out /  The character ü can be entered as v instead. Look it up now! 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. You’ll see those listed below the heading “Casual/Spoken Variants”. Dictionary content from CC-CEDICT ... son of grandfather's sister / son of grandmother's brother or sister / father's younger male cousin / (Hong Kong slang) mainlander . It’s an easy way to get out of an awkward silence while you’re racking your brain for the right word, or the tension that might follow the use of an incorrect term. ), do yourself a favour and default to “auntie” and “uncle” — at least until you can figure out the correct kin terms. Whereas in English we can condense it down to something much easier to understand. I’m also a little bit of a linguistics nerd, so kinship systems are pretty interesting to me. 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. 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! Leave a comment about your experiences — I’d love to hear about them! Sugar puff— It is for a sweet little sister. Do you speak a language that uses a different kinship system? Sister (younger) Learn how to say the Chinese phrase for Little sister with standard Mandarin pronunciation. The current Chinese phrase "Little sister" appears in this group. Daily Dosage Subscribe Unsubscribe 929. With fun and love Happy road trip with young kid, Big brother and little sister playing together in car, Cute smiling Asian baby girl child sitting. It is generally considered impolite to call an elder sibling by name. Contextual translation of "younger sister" into Chinese (Simplified). Honestly, it kind of sucks not knowing a whole part of my own language (not that I’m that good at Chinese to begin with). *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. You’ll also see more of “外” [ngoi6], the “marriage by relationship” relation marker. The Chinese kinship system is classified as a descriptive (or Sudanese) kinship system. Find more Chinese words at wordhippo.com! Or, maybe you’ve mastered your kinship system and have tips for us? A Fun Waste Of Champagne. Now here’s a problem: say your father has three elder sisters. Chinese words for sister include 妹妹, 姐姐, 姐, 修女, 妹, 姊姊, 姊 and 嬃. ), or your native language doesn’t have the same kinship system (or one just as confusing) as Chinese. 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! Older sister in Mandarin is "jiě jie". That’s a lot of terms! Pinyin words should be entered without spaces, either with or without tone numbers: ni3hao3 or nihao. 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. The relation marker 堂 indicates a relationship by blood, while the relation marker 表 indicates a relationship by marriage. 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). 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 Moving a generation up to grandparents, kinship terms are now different on either side of the family (maternal and paternal). This part is pretty straightforward — no fancy relation markers here. Free Mandarin phrases with pinyin and literal translation. If you have more than one older brother, the first older brother will be: 大哥 dà gē 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 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 It … Writing, calligraphy, stroke order, history, etymology, calligraphic style, expressions. Recently, I attended a family dinner to celebrate my paternal grandfather’s birthday. Follow @StdMandarin. Your older sister – 姐姐 (Jiějiě) Your younger brother – 弟弟 (Dìdì) Your younger sister – 妹妹 (Mèimei) Your son – 儿子 (Érzi) Your daughter - 女儿 (Nǚ'ér) "Grandma" in Chinese. 0:14. 妹 definition at Chinese.Yabla.com, a free online dictionary with English, Mandarin Chinese, Pinyin, Strokes & Audio. 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! Don't add honorifics "-chan" or "-kun" to the end. HTML-code: Copy. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Naturally, all of my father’s family attended. Similarly, when a young woman meets a slightly older woman, she may at some point begin to call her “unnie” — again, only if they feel that their relationship deserves sister-to-sister kind of informality. Tweet. These are only used with "imouto" when you're being rude and condescending to your little sister. 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). 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. Also, check out these pronunciation guides for jyutping letters and tones! Example queries: hello, nihao, ni3hao3, 你好, rest*, zei*, *zei*, *茶, 英*公司, chinese *文, "to rest", bill -gates. Smallie— For a small little sister. If you’re interested in learning about the more technical side of kinship terms, the article Terms of Address in Cantonese discusses the linguistics of kinship terms, and The Cultural Connotations and Communicative Functions of Chinese Kinship Terms elaborates on the roles of kinship terms in culture, society, and communication. 妹 Mei: Younger sister In usage, these words are usually repeated twice; e.g., 妹妹 Mei mei for one's younger sister. 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: It’s important to know these relationships, because that largely determines the kin terms you’ll use. Can’t relate? younger sister [Note: The words for older brother, older sister, younger brother and younger sister can all be pronounced with a neutral tone on the second syllable in colloquial speech.] 16 Apr 2019 3 326 717; Share Video. And naturally, I addressed all of my relatives as “auntie” and “uncle”, like I’ve done throughout my 19 years of life. Find more Chinese words at wordhippo.com! You’ve now learnt how to address your relatives in Cantonese! So, I decided to learn the Chinese kinship terms and share what I learnt with all of you! This is a list of Mandarin Chinese names of immediate family members, and each entry is accompanied by an audio file for pronunciation and listening practice. ... 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 … 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. I’ve provided jyutping (romanization for Cantonese pronunciation — I used CantoDict) in square brackets for each word. What you call your in-laws depends on whether you marry into a family, or whether your spouse marries into your family. Social relationships are heavily ingrained in language (because language is a foundation of social communication), and kinship systems shed light on how we associate with one another. 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. little brother bedroom sister catches twerking. English to Chinese dictionary with Mandarin Pinyin & Handwriting Recognition - learn Chinese faster with MDBG! 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). The Unnecessarily Complicated Chinese Family Tree. 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. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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.. Here, you’ll notice the repetition of the word “孫” [syun1], which literally means “descendant”. In old age, Chinese could look forward to positions of respect as village elders. Try Yabla Now Find out more. When used with groups, they influence the whole group they prefix. Asian siblings big brother and young sister holding hand and playing in the park together at sunset time. 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. Tip: Looking for an offline dictionary? This list of extended Chinese family relationships covers family members of the same generation or younger - cousins, bothers and sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews. Either you’ve mastered the art of Chinese kinship terms (in which case, congratulations! How do you refer to one, without referring to all? Use "Imouto" as the "little sister" word. Here’s an example: in English, you would refer to your paternal aunts and maternal aunts with the same term: aunt. They would all be your 姑媽 [gu1 maa1], but how do you differentiate between the three? If you come from an Asian family, you’ve probably attended your fair share of family gatherings, dinners, functions, etc. Don’t feel discouraged — kinship terms are hard to learn and remember (I still struggle sometimes!). Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 0:35. 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. Chinese words for younger sister include 妹妹, 妹 and 弟妹. Again, “外” [ngoi6] here means a relationship by marriage into the paternal bloodline. The first and second character are the same! Billi—An Indian nickname for your younger sis. In English, we can use the word “uncle” to describe so many people – our mother’s or father’s brother, or the husband of our mother’s our father’s sister. Have you had similar struggles with kinship systems? 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 This is how you write it. Typically, older siblings address younger ones by name, so there's not a big need for "liitle sister" words. Become fluent in Chinese by watching Chinese videos in a video player designed for language learners. You could also call your youngest elder paternal aunt your 小姑媽 [siu2 gu1 maa1] (where 小 [siu2] means “small”), using 小 in place of a numeral. ( Log Out /  Congratulations! 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 … Hong Kong’s Holey Skyline: Spirit Dragons or Aesthetics At Work? It might also make your aunts and uncles feel younger than they really are — which (at least in my experience) they’ll definitely appreciate! ( Log Out /  Follow Standard Mandarin. MOST POPULAR. Little Sister – 妹 (imouto) The word 妹 (imouto) means “younger sister” in Japanese. 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. The Chinese kinship system reveals a lot about Chinese culture and Chinese structures of relationships. VIDEOS GALLERIES. The initial, formal period may be a week, a day or as short as 2 minutes. Let’s begin with your direct relatives. 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). Grandmother on Dad’s side - 奶奶 (Nǎinai) Grandmother on Mom’s side -外婆 (wài p ó) "Grandpa" in Chinese Take that concept, and apply it to all the other relatives you have — aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and everyone in between. 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. 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! 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