爷爷 (yé ye) — paternal grandfather; grandfather (father's fat…

Definition

Everyday word for your father's father. 奶奶 is the matching paternal grandmother; 外公/姥爷 refer to your mother's father.

noun

paternal grandfathergrandfather (father's father)

Measure word · 个

Examples

爷爷。
Wǒ yé ye jīn nián qī shí suì le.
My grandfather is seventy years old this year.
爷爷。
yé ye Xǐ huan hē chá.
Grandfather likes to drink tea.
爷爷？
Zhè shì nǐ yé ye ma?
Is this your grandfather?

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.

爷yégrandfather

The repeated 爷 gives a familiar term for a paternal grandfather.

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 爺; 爷 is its simplified writing.

父耶爺

Meaning part形符xíngfú

父父fùfather

Sound part声符shēngfú

耶

耶yē爺yé

Same sound today

The traditional form 爺 combines 父, meaning father, with 耶 as a sound part; the simplified 爷 is a later shorthand, so its visible pieces do not carry that original role.

Open 爷 →