Chinese word

子

Pronunciation

Pinyinzi

Meaning

  • nounson

Example

他是我的儿子。tā shì wǒ de ér zi

He is my son.

Illustration for 子 (son)

More examples

我有两个孩子。wǒ yǒu liǎng gè hái zi

I have two children.

Core concept

A young person in a family, with the same small-unit idea extending to names for small or concrete things.

Common phrases

  • 儿子ér zi

    son

  • 孩子hái zi

    child

Similar words

孩子hái zi: A common spoken noun for a child or children of any age.
儿子ér zi: A person's male child, or son.
女儿nǚ ér: A person's female child, or daughter.
小孩xiǎo hái: An informal spoken term for a small or young child.

Definition in Chinese

指人的幼年或人的后代，通常指孩子或儿子；也常作名词后缀，用于构成表示小的事物或具体器物的名称。zhǐ rén de yòu nián huò rén de hòu dài tōng cháng zhǐ hái zi huò ér zi yě cháng zuò míng cí hòu zhuì yòng yú gòu chéng biǎo shì xiǎo de shì wù huò jù tǐ qì wù de míng chēng

Word origin

子 (zi, "child") began as an ancient picture of an infant, then kept the meanings of child and descendant while also becoming a suffix for small or concrete things.

Usage tips

  • In modern Mandarin, the standalone noun is less common in everyday family talk than longer forms, so it often appears inside compounds or set expressions.

Other meanings

  • childnoun

Related words

Word lists with this word