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表姐 (biǎo jiě) — older female maternal cousin (or paternal aunt's daughter, with a different surname)

Definition

A cousin term: the older female cousin on your mother's side (or your father's sister's daughter) — outside your own surname. Use 姐姐 only for an older sister; 表 marks the cousin/outside-surname relation.

noun
older female maternal cousin (or paternal aunt's daughter, with a different surname)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 表姐。
    Wǒ de biǎo jiě bǐ wǒ dà liǎng suì.
    My older female cousin is two years older than me.
  • 表姐。
    biǎo jiě Zhōu mò lái wǒ jiā zuò kè.
    My older female cousin came to my house for a visit on the weekend.
  • 表姐。
    Wǒ hé biǎo jiě cóng xiǎo jiù yì qǐ zhǎng dà.
    My older female 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.

表biǎocousin
姐jiěolder sister

表 indicates a cousin relationship and 姐 an older sister, together an older female cousin.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 表 pairs 衣 (garment) with 毛 (hair or feather), originally an outer garment.

Open 表 →

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
且
且qiě姐jiě
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The 女 part points to a woman, and 且 is a sound component.

Open 姐 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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