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姑娘 (gū niang) — girl; young woman; young lady; daughter (informal)

Definition

Everyday word for 'girl' or 'young woman'. In northern/casual speech, parents also call their daughter 姑娘. Lighter and more colloquial than 女生 ('female student / schoolgirl').

noun
girlyoung womanyoung ladydaughter (informal)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 姑娘。
    Nà wèi gū niang zài gōng yuán lǐ kàn shū.
    That young lady is reading a book in the park.
  • 姑娘。
    Wǒ jiā gū niang jīn nián shí suì le.
    My daughter is ten years old this year.
  • 姑娘。
    Liǎng wèi gū niang zài jiào shì wài shuō huà.
    Two young women are talking outside the classroom.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

姑gūfemale kin
娘niángwoman

姑 and 娘 are both female terms, so together they name a girl or young woman.

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
古
古gǔ姑gū
Same sound today

The left part 女 marks it as a woman, and the right part 古 provides the sound. It is used for female relatives like an aunt or mother-in-law.

Open 姑 →

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nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
良
良liáng娘niáng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

娘 is built from 女 (woman) and 良, which supplies the sound.

Open 娘 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 51000 Most Frequent Chinese WordsLife Stages & AgePeople (General)2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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