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大姑娘 (dà gū niang) — eldest daughter; grown-up unmarried woman; (dialectal) aunt (usually father's elder sister)

Definition

Literally 'big girl': an unmarried young woman past girlhood (主 sense), or in some dialects, a father's elder sister ('aunt'). The 'aunt' reading is regional, not standard Mandarin.

noun
eldest daughtergrown-up unmarried woman(dialectal) aunt (usually father's elder sister)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 。
    Tā jiā de dà gū niang jīn nián èr shí suì le.
    Her family's eldest daughter is twenty years old this year.
  • 。
    Wǒ xiǎo shí hou cháng qù dà gū niang jiā wán.
    When I was young, I often went to my aunt's house to play.
  • ，。
    Tā shì gè dà gū niang le, gāi zhǎo duì xiàng le.
    She's a grown-up girl now; she should find a partner.

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.

大dàbig/eldest
姑娘young woman
姑gūyoung woman娘niángwoman
联合Coordinate

大 marks the eldest or grown-up, while 姑娘 refers to a young woman.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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
女女nǚwoman
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ姑gū
Same sound today

The left part 女 marks it as a woman, and the right part 古 provides the sound. It is used for female relatives like an aunt or mother-in-law.

Open 姑 →

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
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
良
良liáng娘niáng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

娘 is built from 女 (woman) and 良, which supplies the sound.

Open 娘 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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