堂哥 (táng gē) — elder male paternal cousin (father's brother's son)

Definition

An older male cousin on your father's side (your father's brother's son). 堂 marks the paternal-cousin line, while 表 covers cousins on the mother's side.

noun
elder male paternal cousin (father's brother's son)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 堂哥。
    Wǒ táng gē bǐ wǒ dà liǎng suì.
    My elder paternal cousin is two years older than me.
  • 堂哥。
    Jīn tiān táng gē dài wǒ qù chī huǒ guō.
    Today my elder paternal cousin took me to eat hotpot.
  • 堂哥。
    Wǒ hé táng gē cóng xiǎo yì qǐ zhǎng dà.
    My elder paternal cousin and I grew up together since childhood.

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.

堂tángpaternal cousin branch
哥gēolder brother

'堂' (paternal cousin branch) and '哥' (older brother) combine to mean an older paternal cousin.

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
土土tǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
尚
尚shàng堂táng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

堂 uses 土 as a ground/earth part and 尚 for sound.

Open 堂 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 哥 →

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