noun HSK 7-9 #13,579

Meanings

  1. 1 aunt (mother's sister)
  2. 2 form of address for women of one's mother's generation

Examples

HSK 1
阿姨您好
Āyí, nínhǎo!
Hello, auntie!
HSK 2
Yímā xiàzhōu lái kàn wǒmen.
Auntie is coming to visit us next week.

Tips

usage
阿姨 is a very common polite address for any older woman. 姨妈 = mother's sister specifically. 小姨 = mother's younger sister.

Components

radical
woman (radical)
Left woman radical - the indexing radical. Pictures a kneeling figure with crossed hands, the canonical female posture in oracle bone script. Anchors firmly in the kinship/female family with elder sister, younger sister, mother, aunt-on-father's-side. Marks every female relative term in Chinese.
phonetic
non-Han peoples (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound yí, an exact match with no drift. The historical 'foreign peoples' sense plays no part in the meaning; pure sound peg here. Same phonetic powers wound, pancreas, 'huh?'. names the maternal aunt - mother's sister - distinct from paternal .

Stroke Order