姨妈 (yí mā) — married maternal aunt; (colloquial) one's mothe… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Colloquial term for one's mother's sister (maternal aunt), often married. The more formal/written term is 姨, and 姑妈/姑姑 refers to a paternal aunt — a different relative.

noun

married maternal aunt(colloquial) one's mother's sister

Measure word · 个

Examples

姨妈。
Wǒ yí mā zhù zài wǒ jiā gé bì.
My aunt lives next door to my house.
姨妈。
Míng tiān wǒ men yào qù yí mā jiā chī fàn.
Tomorrow we're going to my aunt's place for dinner.
姨妈。
Wǒ yí mā gěi wǒ zhī le yí jiàn máo yī.
My aunt knitted me a sweater.

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.

姨yímaternal aunt

妈māmother

姨 specifies the mother's sister, while 妈 denotes a mother-generation woman.

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.

女夷姨

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

夷

夷yí姨yí

Same sound today

姨 combines 女 (woman) with 夷, which gives the sound. The 女 part marks it as a woman-related word.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 媽; 妈 is its simplified writing.

女馬媽

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

馬

馬mǎ媽mā

Same sound today

The traditional form 媽 pairs 女 (woman) with 馬, which gives the sound. The simplified 妈 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

Family & Kinship

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.