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养子 (yǎng zǐ) — adopted son; foster son

Definition

An adopted or foster son — a male child raised by someone other than his biological parents. Contrast with 亲子 (biological child) and 义子 (sworn/adopted son, more traditional or formal).

noun
adopted sonfoster son
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，养子。
    Zhè duì fū fù méi yǒu qīn shēng zǐ nǚ, zhǐ yǒu yí gè yǎng zǐ.
    This couple has no biological children, only an adopted son.
  • 养子，。
    Tā cóng xiǎo bèi sòng dào bié rén jiā zuò yǎng zǐ, zhǎng dà hòu cái huí dào qīn shēng fù mǔ shēn biān.
    He was sent to another family as an adopted son as a child and only returned to his biological parents after growing up.
  • ，养子。
    Zài gǔ dài, yǎng zǐ yě yǒu jì chéng jiā chǎn de quán lì.
    In ancient times, adopted sons also had the right to inherit family property.

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.

养yǎngfostered
子zǐson

养 means fostered or adopted, and 子 means son; together they describe a son brought up by non-biological parents.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 養; 养 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 養 uses 羊 as a sound part and 食 as a meaning part.

Open 养 →

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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