姑母 (gū mǔ) — father's married sister (aunt on the paternal side)

Definition

A formal, written term for one's father's sister. 姑姑 / 姑妈 is the everyday spoken form for the same relative, while 姑母 appears in formal or literary contexts.

noun
father's married sister (aunt on the paternal side)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 姑母。
    Wǒ de gū mǔ zhù zài shàng hǎi.
    My aunt (father's married sister) lives in Shanghai.
  • 姑母。
    Měi nián chūn jié wǒ men dōu huì qù kàn wàng gū mǔ.
    Every Spring Festival we go to visit our aunt (father's married sister).
  • 姑母，。
    gū mǔ Duì wǒ men fēi cháng hǎo, jiù xiàng mā ma yí yàng.
    Our aunt (father's married sister) is very kind to us, just like a mother.

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.

姑gūpaternal aunt
母mǔfemale relative

姑 shows the father's side and 母 shows a female relative, together meaning father's married sister.

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 母 →

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