婶婶 (shěn shen) — aunt (wife of one's father's younger brother)

Definition

Refers specifically to the wife of one's father's younger brother (aunt by marriage on the paternal side). Distinct from 姑姑 (father's sister) and 舅妈 (mother's brother's wife).

noun

aunt (wife of one's father's younger brother)

Measure word · 位

Examples

婶婶。
Wǒ shěn shen jīn tiān lái wǒ jiā chī fàn.
My aunt came to my house for dinner today.
婶婶。
Wǒ shěn shen zuò de cài hěn hǎo chī.
The dishes my aunt cooks are delicious.
婶婶。
Zhōu mò wǒ yào hé shěn shen yì qǐ qù guàng jiē.
On the weekend I will go shopping with my aunt.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

婶shěnaunt

The kinship term 婶 is repeated to form an affectionate address for an aunt.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 嬸; 婶 is its simplified writing.

女審嬸

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

審

審shěn嬸shěn

Same sound today

For the traditional form 嬸, the left part 女 means woman, and the right part 審 gives the sound.

Open 婶 →