Chinese Conversation · Level 40
90 words
Chinese word
姑父
Pronunciation
Pinyingū fù
Meaning
- noununcle
Example
今天姑父来我们家了。jīn tiān gū fù lái wǒ men jiā le
My uncle came to our house today.
More examples
我给姑父打了个电话。wǒ gěi gū fù dǎ le gè diàn huà
I called my uncle.
Core concept
The male relative who connects the family to the father's sister and belongs to that paternal branch as an uncle by marriage.
Common phrases
给姑父打电话gěi gū fù dǎ diàn huà
call one's uncle
请姑父吃饭qǐng gū fù chī fàn
invite one's uncle to dinner
Similar words
姑妈gū mā: A father's sister, used as a family term.
叔叔shū shū: A father's younger brother, used as a family term.
舅舅jiù jiù: A mother's brother, used as a family term.
伯父bó fù: A father's older brother, used as a family term.
Definition in Chinese
指父亲的妹妹的丈夫，是对这一亲属关系的称呼。zhǐ fù qīn de mèi mèi de zhàng fū shì duì zhè yì qīn shǔ guān xì de chēng hū
Word origin
The compound 姑 (gū, "father's sister") + 父 (fù, "father") pairs the paternal-aunt label with a male family label, making the aunt's husband the named uncle of that branch.
Usage tips
- An English speaker may call both a parent's brother and an aunt's husband an uncle, but Chinese kinship vocabulary can keep these relationships distinct.