Chinese word

姓

Pronunciation

Pinyinxìng

Meaning

  • nounlast name

Example

你的姓叫什么？nǐ de xìng jiào shén me

What is your last name?

Illustration for 姓 (last name)

More examples

请把你的姓氏写在姓名栏的前面。qǐng bǎ nǐ de xìng shì xiě zài xìng míng lán de qián miàn

Please write your surname at the front of the name field.

Core concept

A family label passed through generations to show which household or clan a person belongs to.

Common phrases

  • 姓氏xìng shì

    surname

Similar words

名字míng zì: A personal name used when referring to someone, which can mean part or all of that person's name.
姓氏xìng shì: A formal name for the family name connected with a person's ancestry.
姓名xìng míng: The full personal name made up of the family name and given name, especially on forms and documents.

Definition in Chinese

指示一个人所属家庭或家族的名字，通常世代相传以区分不同家族。zhǐ shì yí gè rén suó shǔ jiā tíng huò jiā zú de míng zì tōng cháng shì dài xiāng chuán yǐ qū fēn bù tóng jiā zú

Word origin

姓 (xìng, "surname") is a phonetic-semantic character: 女 (nǚ, "woman") gives the meaning and 生 (shēng, "birth") gives the sound, while its older sense was a clan name.

Usage tips

  • Chinese names usually put the family name first, so the first part of a Chinese name often corresponds to the last name in English.

Other meanings

  • be surnamedverb

Opposites

Related words

  • 同姓tóng xìnghaving the same surnameadjective

Word lists with this word