大舅子 (dà jiù zi) — wife's elder brother

Definition

An informal, northern-Chinese colloquial term for your wife's older brother. The neutral everyday word is 姐夫 (brother-in-law via older sister); 大舅子 is more casual and distinctly emphasizes the elder-brother side of the wife's family.

noun
wife's elder brother
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 大舅子。
    Wǒ de dà jiù zi míng tiān yào lái běi jīng.
    My wife's elder brother is coming to Beijing tomorrow.
  • 大舅子？
    Nǐ dà jiù zi zuò shén me gōng zuò?
    What does your wife's elder brother do for a living?
  • 大舅子，。
    Tā shì wǒ dà jiù zi, bú shì qīn gē ge.
    He's my wife's elder brother, not my own brother.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

大舅elder uncle
大dàelder舅jiùuncle
偏正Modifier + head
子zǐfamiliar ending

The elder 大舅 relation becomes a familiar kinship term with 子.

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
男男nánmale; man
Sound part声符shēngfú
臼
臼jiù舅jiù
Same sound today

舅 combines 男, meaning male or man, with 臼, which gives the sound.

Open 舅 →

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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