大姨子 (dà yí zi) — wife's elder sister

Definition

Colloquial term for your wife's older sister — used by the husband in casual speech. More everyday than formal terms like 妻姐, and contrasts with 小姨子 (wife's younger sister).

noun
wife's elder sister
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 大姨子。
    dà yí zi Zuó tiān cóng měi guó huí lái le.
    My wife's elder sister came back from the US yesterday.
  • 大姨子，。
    dà yí zi Bāng wǒ men zhào gù hái zi, wǒ men hěn gǎn jī.
    Our wife's elder sister helps us take care of the children, we are very grateful.
  • ，大姨子。
    Měi nián chūn jié, dà yí zi dōu huì lái wǒ men jiā chī nián yè fàn.
    Every Spring Festival, wife's elder sister comes to our house for the New Year's Eve dinner.

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.

大dàelder
姨子wife's sister
姨yísister relation子zǐkinship term
后缀Suffix

“大” marks the elder sister, and “姨子” names the wife’s sister.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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
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.

Open 姨 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →

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