If friend come indigenous an eastern family, you’ve more than likely attended her fair re-publishing of family members gatherings, dinners, functions, etc. You’ve probably also experienced a instance like this at least once in her life:
Mom: greet your family members.
You are watching: How do you say grandma in cantonese
You: *panicking because you don’t know just how to resolve any the them* uHM…
Can’t relate? Either did you do it mastered the arts of Chinese kinship state (in which case, congratulations!), or your aboriginal language doesn’t have the same kinship mechanism (or one simply as confusing) together Chinese.
For those of friend in the second category, here’s what’s going on: A kinship system determines what you contact your relatives — think a family members tree, but with all the relatives a person might possibly have and the terms by which they’d describe them. Chinese uses a different kinship system than English. The Chinese kinship system is classified together a descriptive (or Sudanese) kinship system. This method that you refer to each that your relatives with a various kin term (there are at least 8 various terms just to refer to your miscellaneous cousins).
Here’s one example: in English, girlfriend would refer to your head aunts and maternal aunts through the same term: aunt. Yet in Chinese, the term for paternal aunt is various from the term because that maternal aunt. Take the concept, and apply that to all the various other relatives you have actually — aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and also everyone in between. That’s a the majority of terms!
Recently, i attended a family members dinner to celebrate my paternal grandfather’s birthday. Naturally, all of my father’s family members attended. And naturally, i addressed every one of my relatives as “auntie” and also “uncle”, favor I’ve excellent throughout my 19 year of life.
Honestly, it sort of sucks not knowing a whole component of my own language (not the I’m that good at Chinese to begin with). I’ve always struggled with addressing mine Chinese relatives. I’m additionally a tiny bit of a linguistics nerd, so kinship systems space pretty interesting to me. So, I decided to find out the Chinese kinship terms and share what i learnt with every one of you!
I’ve listed jyutping (romanization because that Cantonese together — I provided CantoDict) in square brackets because that each word. Also, inspect out these pronunciation guides because that jyutping letters and also tones! Happy learning!
A quick Primer
Many Chinese kinship state incorporate indigenous that indicate different types of relationships (I’ll speak to them relation markers), specifically relations by blood and by marriage. It’s important to understand these relationships, because that mainly determines the kin state you’ll use. This might be a good time to destruction up a family tree or contact a relative so you deserve to track who’s concerned who.
The Chinese kinship mechanism reveals a lot around Chinese culture and Chinese frameworks of relationships. Social relationship are greatly ingrained in language (because language is a foundation of social communication), and also kinship systems burned light on how we associate v one another. In Chinese, this is especially evident in relationship markers and also the usage of number to differentiate between siblings (because numbers signify importance too!).
Below the straightforward or formal state kinship terms, I’ve consisted of some casual or spoken variants that the kinship terms to the best of my knowledge. You’ll watch those provided below the heading “Casual/Spoken Variants”.
Immediate Family
Let’s start with your straight relatives. This component is pretty simple — no an intricate relation markers here. Several of these state will likewise appear later on in combination with other words, therefore I very recommend mastering this section before you move on to the rest!
| English | Cantonese |
| Mother | 媽媽 |
| Father | 爸爸 |
| Older Brother | 哥哥 |
| Older Sister | 姐姐 |
| Younger Brother | 弟弟 |
| Younger Sister | 妹妹 |
| Husband | 老公 |
| Wife | 老婆 |
| Son | 仔 |
| Daughter | 女 |
Grandparents and also Great-Grandparents
Moving a generation approximately grandparents, kinship terms are now different on either side of the household (maternal and paternal). In several of these state you’ll view the relation marker “外”
| English | Cantonese |
| Paternal Grandmother | 嫲嫲 |
| Paternal Grandfather | 爺爺 |
| Maternal Grandmother | 外婆 |
| Maternal Grandfather | 外公 |
| Paternal Great-grandmother | 太嫲 |
| Paternal Great-grandfather | 太爺 |
| Maternal Great-grandmother | 太婆 |
| Maternal Great-grandfather | 太公 |
Uncles and Aunts
Here’s wherein I had actually (and quiet have) the many trouble — differentiating between aunts and uncles and their pair proves to be an arduous task. Sometimes, it’s hard to map the relationships between yourself and also your aunts and uncles also (because asking “who are you again?” without making the situation awkward is a feat in itself). If you’re yes, really stumped, or can’t number out who’s who in a timely way (don’t want to keep those passionate aunties waiting!), do yourself a favour and also default come “auntie” and also “uncle” — at least until girlfriend can figure out the correct kin terms. That an easy means to obtain out of an awkward silence while you racking your mind for the ideal word, or the stress and anxiety that could follow the usage of an not correct term. It might additionally make your aunts and uncles feeling younger than they really are — which (at the very least in my experience) they’ll definitely appreciate!
| English | Cantonese |
| Elder head Aunt | 姑媽 |
| Younger head Aunt | 姑姐 |
| Elder head Uncle | 伯父 |
| Younger paternal Uncle | 叔叔 |
| Paternal Aunts’ Husbands | 姑丈 |
| Elder paternal Uncle’s Wife | 伯娘 |
| Younger paternal Uncle’s Wife | 阿嬸 |
| Elder Maternal Aunt | 姨媽 |
| Younger Maternal Aunt | 阿姨 |
| Maternal Aunts’ Husbands | 姨丈 |
| Maternal Uncles | 舅父 |
| Maternal Uncles’ Wives | 舅母 |
| Elder paternal Great-uncle | 伯公 |
| Younger head Great-uncle | 叔公 |
| Elder head Great-uncle’s Wife | 伯婆 |
| Younger head Great-uncle’s Wife | 叔婆 |
| Paternal Great-aunts | 姑婆 |
| Paternal Great-aunts’ Husbands | 姑丈公 |
| Maternal Great-uncles | 舅公 |
| Maternal Great-uncles’ Wives | 舅婆 |
| Maternal Great-aunts | 姨婆 |
| Maternal Great-aunts’ Husbands | 姨丈公 |
Now here’s a problem: say your father has three elder sisters. They would certainly all be your 姑媽
In these situations, you would contact your eldest 姑媽 her 大姑媽
Cousins and Their Spouses
Most that the terms because that cousin are shortened sibling state (姐
| English | Cantonese |
| Maternal Elder mrs Cousin | 表姐 |
| Maternal Elder masculine Cousin | 表妹 |
| Maternal Younger woman Cousin | 表哥 |
| Maternal Younger masculine Cousin | 表弟 |
| Father’s Brother’s Daughter (Older 보다 You) | 堂姐 |
| Father’s Brother’s Daughter (Younger 보다 You) | 堂妹 |
| Father’s Brother’s child (Older than You) | 堂哥 |
| Father’s Brother’s child (Younger than You) | 堂弟 |
| Father’s Sister’s Daughter (Older than You) | 表姐 |
| Father’s Sister’s Daughter (Younger 보다 You) | 表妹 |
| Father’s Sister’s child (Older than You) | 表哥 |
| Father’s Sister’s son (Younger 보다 You) | 表弟 |
| 表哥’s Wife | 表嫂 |
| 表姐’s Husband | 表姐夫 |
| 表弟’s Wife | 表弟婦 |
| 表妹’s Husband | 表妹夫 |
| 堂哥’s Wife | 堂嫂 |
| 堂姐’s Husband | 堂姐夫 |
| 堂弟’s Wife | 堂弟婦 |
| 堂妹’s Husband | 堂妹夫 |
*Note: The children of her father’s instant sisters are your 表姐
Nieces and also Nephews
Similar to your cousins, just how you refer to your nieces and nephews depends on their relation to her paternal bloodline.
| English | Cantonese |
| Immediate Brother’s Daughter | 姪女 |
| Immediate Brother’s Son | 侄仔 |
| Immediate Sister’s Daughter | 外甥女 |
| Immediate Sister’s Son | 外甥 |
Again, “外”
Grandchildren
Here, you’ll an alert the repetition of the word “孫”
| English | Cantonese |
| Son’s Son | 孫仔 |
| Son’s Daughter | 孫女 |
| Daughter’s Son | 外孫 |
| Daughter’s Daughter | 外孫女 |
In-laws
What you contact your in-laws depends on even if it is you marry into a family, or whether her spouse marries into your family. You’ll likewise see the usage of the relation marker “外”
See more: The Canary Islands In The Pacific Are Named After What Animal
| English | Cantonese |
| Husband’s Father | 老爺 |
| Husband’s Mother | 奶奶 |
| Wife’s Father | 外父 |
| Wife’s Mother | 外母 |
| Husband’s Elder Brother | 大伯 |
| Husband’s Elder Sister | 姑奶 |
| Husband’s Younger Brother | 小叔 |
| Husband’s Younger Sister | 姑仔 |
| Wife’s Elder Brother | 大舅 |
| Wife’s Elder Sister | 大姨 |
| Wife’s Younger Brother | 舅仔 |
| Wife’s Younger Sister | 姨仔 |
| Daughter-in-law | 新抱 |
| Son-in-law | 女婿 |
| Son’s young Wife | 孫新抱 |
| Daughter’s boy Wife | 外孫新抱 |
| Son’s Daughter’s Husband | 孫女婿 |
| Daughter’s Daughter’s Husband | 外孫女婿 |
Congratulations! You’ve now learnt exactly how to deal with your loved ones in Cantonese!
Still confused? Don’t feeling discouraged — kinship state are hard to learn and also remember (I still struggle sometimes!). Because that a fast refresher, inspect out this video clip by turn off The an excellent Wall because that a rapid recap, and also this Omniglot write-up for a table the Chinese kinship terms and their variants in various Chinese dialects! If she interested in learning around the an ext technical next of kinship terms, the short article Terms of deal with in Cantonese discusses the linguistics of kinship terms, and also The cultural Connotations and Communicative functions of Chinese Kinship Terms elaborates ~ above the functions of kinship terms in culture, society, and also communication.
Do friend speak a language that uses a different kinship system? have actually you had similar struggles through kinship systems? Or, probably you’ve mastered her kinship system and also have tips for us? leave a comment around your experiences — I’d love come hear around them!