小姑 (xiǎo gū) — husband's younger sister (sister-in-law); father's younger sister (paternal aunt)

Definition

Colloquial kinship term covering TWO senses: husband's younger sister AND father's younger sister (paternal aunt). For husband's sister use 小姑子; for father's sister 大姑 (older) / 姑姑 (common).

noun
husband's younger sister (sister-in-law)father's younger sister (paternal aunt)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 小姑，。
    Wǒ xiǎo gū duì wǒ tè bié hǎo, jīng cháng gěi wǒ mǎi lǐ wù.
    My husband's younger sister is especially nice to me and often buys me gifts.
  • 小姑，。
    Tā jié hūn hòu gēn xiǎo gū zhù zài yì qǐ, guān xì hěn róng qià.
    After she got married, she lived with her husband's younger sister and they got along very well.
  • 小姑（）。
    Wǒ xiǎo gū (fù qīn de mèi mei) měi nián chūn jié dōu lái wǒ jiā bài nián.
    My paternal aunt (father's younger sister) comes to our house every Spring Festival to pay New Year's visit.

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.

小xiǎoyounger
姑gūaunt

小 means younger and 姑 means aunt or sister-in-law; together they specify a younger aunt or husband's younger sister.

Characters in this word

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

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Open 小 →

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 →

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