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哥俩 (gē liǎ) — (colloquial) two brothers; also used to refer to two close male friends

Definition

Casual spoken word for 'two brothers', extended affectionately to two close male friends. The 后缀 -俩 marks a pair, so it can be used alone or with a modifier like 好哥俩.

noun
(colloquial) two brothersalso used to refer to two close male friends

Examples

  • 哥俩。
    gē liǎ Yì qǐ qù kàn diàn yǐng le.
    The two brothers went to see a movie together.
  • 哥俩。
    Tā men liǎ zhēn shì hǎo gē liǎ.
    Those two are really close buddies.
  • 哥俩。
    Cóng xiǎo tā men jiù shì gē liǎ.
    They've been like brothers 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.

哥gēbrother
俩liǎtwo

哥 names brothers and 俩 means two, so together they denote a pair of brothers.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 哥 →

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 倆; 俩 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
兩
兩liǎng倆liǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

This note is about the traditional form 倆, not the simplified 俩. In 倆, 亻 is the person part and 兩 gives the sound.

Open 俩 →
Appears in
Family & KinshipFriends & Social

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