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表亲 (biǎo qīn) — cousin (specifically, child of one's mother's brother or father's sister)

Definition

A cousin on the maternal side: child of your mother's sibling, or of your father's sister. Compare with 堂亲, which covers paternal-line male cousins.

noun
cousin (specifically, child of one's mother's brother or father's sister)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 表亲。
    Wǒ de biǎo qīn xià ge yuè yào jié hūn le.
    My cousin is getting married next month.
  • 表亲，。
    Tā yǒu hěn duō biǎo qīn, dàn guān xì zuì qīn de shì tā biǎo gē.
    She has many cousins, but the closest is her older male cousin.
  • ，表亲。
    Zài zhōng guó, biǎo qīn hé táng qīn de qū fēn hěn zhòng yào.
    In China, the distinction between maternal cousins and paternal cousins is important.

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.

表biǎocousin-side
亲qīnrelative

表 marks the collateral side of the family, and 亲 means relative.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 表 pairs 衣 (garment) with 毛 (hair or feather), originally an outer garment.

Open 表 →

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 親; 亲 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
辛
辛xīn親qīn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 親 uses 見 (see) for sense and 辛 (a chisel) for sound; the simplified 亲 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 亲 →
Appears in
Family & Kinship

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