Chinese Terms of Address for Relatives

The Spring Festival is the occasion for every Chinese family to get together. Do you know how people of different generations in the Chinese family address each other?


Parents address their children in two ways. One way is to call them, according to their age from the eldest to the youngest, lɑodɑ (the eldest), lɑoer (the second eldest), lɑosɑn (the third eldest) ... until the youngest (for example, lɑowu (the fifth)) regardless of sex. The second way is to call sons and daughters separately. Sons are called, from the eldest to the youngest, dɑ erzi (the eldest son), er erzi (the second eldest son) ... and the youngest is called xiɑo erzi. It is the same for the daughters who are called dɑ nü’er (the eldest daughter), er nü’er (the second eldest daughter) ... until xiɑo nü’er (the youngest daughter). The daughter-in-law is called erxi, and son-in-law is called nüxu. The wife of the eldest son is called dɑ erxi (the eldest daughter-in-law). The husband of the second eldest daughter is called er nüxu (the second eldest son-in-law).
Grandparents call the son’s children sunzi (grandson) or sunnü (granddaughter), the daughter’s children wɑisun (grandson) or waisunnü (granddaughter). “Wɑi” indicates they have a different surname, of different family name. Accordingly, the son’s children call grandparents yeye (paternal grandfather) and nɑinɑi (paternal grandmother). The daughter’s children call grandparents wɑigong (maternal grandfather) and wɑipo maternal grandmother), who in North China are also called lɑoye and lɑolao respectively.
The son, the daughter-in-law, the daughter and the son-in-law address the parents in the same way as bɑbɑ and mɑmɑ when talking to them (also die and niɑng in northern China). But in the absence of the parents, the daughter-in-law can call her husband’s parents gonggong (father-in-law) and popo (mother-in-law), and the son-in-law can call his wife’s parents yuefu and yuemu, or zhɑngren and zhɑngmuniɑng.
The terms of address for the siblings of father and mother are different. Father’s elder brother is called bobo (paternal uncle), and his younger brother shushu (paternal uncle), while his sisters are called gugu or gumɑ (paternal aunt). Mother’s brothers are all called jiujiu (maternal uncle), and her sisters i or yimɑ (maternal aunt). For example, “sɑnshu” is the third younger brother of father, and “dɑyi” is the mother’s eldest sister.
In daily life, some terms of address for the relatives are often used for non-relatives. For instance, the man a little older than father and mother is addressed as bobo, and the man younger shushu. Females are generally called ɑyi by younger people of the next generation. In Beijing and some other regions, they are also called dɑmɑ. Old people of grandfather’s and grandmother’s age can also be addressed as yeye and nɑinɑi.