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侄女 (zhí nǚ) — niece (brother's daughter or male cousin's daughter on the father's side)

Definition

Your brother's daughter (paternal side of the family). Contrast with 外甥女 (wàishēng nǚ), your sister's daughter or any niece on your mother's side.

noun
niece (brother's daughter or male cousin's daughter on the father's side)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 侄女。
    Wǒ gē ge de nǚ ér shì wǒ de zhí nǚ.
    My older brother's daughter is my niece.
  • 侄女，。
    zhí nǚ Jīn nián gāng kǎo shàng dà xué, quán jiā dōu hěn gāo xìng.
    My niece just got into college this year, and the whole family is very happy.
  • 侄女？
    Nǐ jiàn guò nǐ shū shu jiā de zhí nǚ ma?
    Have you met your uncle's niece?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

侄zhíbrother's child
女nǚfemale

侄女 joins 侄 (brother's child) and 女 (female) for a niece.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
至
至zhì侄zhí
Same sound today

侄 pairs 亻 (a person) with 至, which gives the sound.

Open 侄 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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