令郎 (lìng láng) — (honorific) your son

Definition

Highly formal, honorific way to refer to "your son" when addressing a peer or senior. It is only used about someone else's child, never your own, and is essentially the male counterpart to 令爱 ("your daughter").

noun
(honorific) your son
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 令郎？
    lìng láng Zuì jìn xué xí zěn me yàng?
    How has your son been doing in his studies lately?
  • 令郎，！
    Tīng shuō lìng láng kǎo shàng le běi jīng dà xué, gōng xǐ gōng xǐ!
    I heard your son was admitted to Peking University — congratulations!
  • 令郎。
    Nín lìng láng zhēn shì yì biǎo rén cái.
    Your son is truly impressive.

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.

令lìngyour (honorific)
郎lángson

Honorific term for 'your son': 令 politely refers to the addressee, while 郎 denotes a son.

Characters in this word

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

  • 亼亼jí
  • 卩卩jié

In 令, the upper 亼 is an open mouth and the lower 卩 is a kneeling person, together showing someone giving orders.

Open 令 →

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
邑邑yìcounty; town
Sound part声符shēngfú
良
良liáng郎láng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

郎 combines 良, which gives the sound, with 邑, meaning county or town.

Open 郎 →

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