小老婆 (xiǎo lǎo pó) — (derogatory, historical) concubine, secondary w…

Definition

An old, derogatory term for a man's concubine or secondary wife. Today it sounds very insulting — say 情妇 or 二房 in modern contexts instead.

noun

(derogatory, historical) concubinesecondary wife

Measure word · 个

，小老婆。
Zài gǔ dài, yǒu qián rén cháng cháng qǔ xiǎo lǎo pó.
In ancient times, wealthy people often took concubines.
。
Zhè ge cí xiàn zài tīng qǐ lái hěn wǔ rǔ rén.
This term sounds very insulting nowadays.
小老婆。
Xiǎo shuō lǐ miáo xiě le nà ge nán rén hé tā de xiǎo lǎo pó.
The novel describes that man and his concubine.

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.

小xiǎosecondary

老婆wife

前缀Prefix

“小” gives a sense of secondary, and “老婆” refers to a wife, together naming a concubine.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape 老 combines 人 (man), 毛 (hair), and 匕 (cane), showing a man with long hair leaning on a cane.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

波女婆

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

波

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.