Chinese word

提亲

Pronunciation

Pinyintí qīn

Meaning

  • verbpropose marriage

Example

男方打算这周去提亲。nán fāng dǎ suàn zhè zhōu qù tí qīn

The man's family plans to ask for her hand in marriage this week.

Illustration for 提亲 (propose marriage)

More examples

他决定明天亲自向女方家长提亲。tā jué dìng míng tiān qīn zì xiàng nǚ fāng jiā zhǎng tí qīn

He decided to personally propose marriage to the woman's parents tomorrow.

Core concept

A marriage request carried from one family to another as a formal social step.

Common phrases

  • 向女方家长提亲xiàng nǚ fāng jiā zhǎng tí qīn

    propose marriage to the woman's parents

  • 被父母带去提亲bèi fù mǔ dài qù tí qīn

    be taken by one's parents to propose marriage

  • 当面提亲dāng miàn tí qīn

    propose marriage face-to-face

Similar words

求婚qiú hūn: Propose marriage directly to the person one wants to marry.
说媒shuō méi: Arrange a marriage by having a matchmaker mediate between the two families.
下聘xià pìn: Officially declare the intention to marry and start the betrothal process.

Definition in Chinese

男方或其代表带着礼物或口头表示，正式到女方家提出婚事请求的行为nán fāng huò qí dài biǎo dài zhe lǐ wù huò kǒu tóu biǎo shì zhèng shì dào nǚ fāng jiā tí chū hūn shì qǐng qiú de xíng wéi

Word origin

提亲 (tíqīn, "propose marriage") joins 提 (tí, "bring forward") + 亲 (qīn, "kin"), so the word pictures bringing forward a request to form a family relationship.

Usage tips

  • The subject is often the prospective groom's family or its representative, so the word can describe a family action instead of one person's decision alone.

Other meanings

  • arrange a marriageverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word