姨婆 (yí pó) — parent's aunt (grandparent's sister)

Definition

A kinship term for the sister of one of your grandparents — your 'grandaunt'. The maternal side is most common in usage; 姨婆 is distinct from 姑婆 (paternal grandfather's sister).

noun
parent's aunt (grandparent's sister)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 姨婆。
    Wǒ nǎi nai de mèi mei shì wǒ de yí pó.
    My paternal grandmother's younger sister is my grandaunt.
  • 姨婆。
    Zhōng qiū jié wǒ men qù kàn le zhù zài wài dì de yí pó.
    On Mid-Autumn Festival, we went to visit the grandaunt who lives in another city.
  • 姨婆，。
    Zhè wèi shì mā ma nà biān de yí pó, dà jiā jiào yī shēng hǎo.
    This is your mother's grandaunt, everyone greet her.

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.

姨yímaternal aunt
婆pógrandmother/elder woman

姨 points to the maternal aunt line, while 婆 refers to a grandmother or elder woman, so 姨婆 denotes a grandmother's 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
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 →

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
波
波bō婆pó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

婆 pairs 女 (woman) with 波, which gives the sound. The 女 part shows the character is about a woman.

Open 婆 →

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