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姐儿 (jiě ér) — (colloquial) young girl; lass; (colloquial, affectionate) used to address a female friend teasingly or playfully; (colloquial, plural) sisters; close female friends

Definition

A colloquial, playful word for a young girl or a group of close female friends (often with the diminutive 小, as in 小姐儿). 姐 alone means 'older sister' — the 儿 suffix makes it casual and affectionate, not a family term.

noun
(colloquial) young girllass(colloquial, affectionate) used to address a female friend teasingly or playfully(colloquial, plural) sistersclose female friends
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 姐儿。
    Nà jiě ér kě zhēn shì gè jī ling guǐ.
    That young girl is really a clever one.
  • ，。
    Nǐ zhè ge xiǎo jiě ér, yòu dòu wǒ xiào.
    You little rascal, you've made me laugh again.
  • 姐儿。
    Wǒ men jǐ gè jiě ér míng r yì qǐ qù guàng jiē ba.
    Let's go shopping together tomorrow, us girls.

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.

姐jiěyoung woman
儿érendearing tone

姐 denotes a young woman or sister, and 儿 gives a colloquial, endearing tone.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

Open 儿 →
Appears in
People (General)

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