侄 (zhí): nephew (brother's son)

Meanings

我侄子今年上大三了。

Wǒ zhízi jīnnián shàng dàsān le.

My nephew is in his third year of university this year.

她把侄女当成亲生女儿。

Tā bǎ zhínǚ dàngchéng qīnshēng nǚ'ér.

She treats her niece like her own daughter.

usage

侄 is the child of one's brother (or a male relative of the same generation): 侄子 = nephew, 侄女 = niece. A sister's child uses 外甥 instead.

radical

亻 rén

person (left-side form of 人)

The standing-person radical (left-side form of 人) marks this as a word about a human relationship, here a family member.

phonetic

至 zhì

to arrive; to reach

On the right 至 supplies the sound, lightly shifted from zhì to zhí. It is purely phonetic here, carrying no meaning.

侄 zhí