舅舅 (jiù jiu) — maternal uncle (mother's brother)

Definition

Mother's brother. Contrast with 叔叔 (father's younger brother) and 姨 (mother's sister) — these three cover most uncles and aunts in everyday family talk.

noun

maternal uncle (mother's brother)

Measure word · 个

Examples

舅舅。
Wǒ jiù jiu jīng cháng gěi wǒ mǎi wán jù.
My maternal uncle often buys me toys.
舅舅？
Nǐ jiù jiu zuò shén me gōng zuò?
What does your maternal uncle do for work?
舅舅。
Shàng zhōu mò wǒ men qù le jiù jiu jiā chī fàn.
We went to my maternal uncle's house for dinner last weekend.

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.

舅jiùmaternal uncle

The two 舅 together form a familiar kinship term for mother's brother.

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.

臼男舅

Meaning part形符xíngfú

男男nánmale; man

Sound part声符shēngfú

臼

臼jiù舅jiù

Same sound today

舅 combines 男, meaning male or man, with 臼, which gives the sound.

Open 舅 →