ài
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 used in 令嫒 (a polite term for another person's daughter)

Examples

请问令嫒今年多大
Qǐngwèn, lìng'ài jīnnián duōdà le?
May I ask, how old is your esteemed daughter this year?

Tips

history
is not used independently in modern Chinese — it survives only in the polite term 令嫒 ('your daughter'), now more often written . The everyday word for daughter is 女儿.
register
Honorific and literary only — used when politely referring to someone else's daughter, paralleling ('your son').

Components

radical
woman; female
the woman radical signals a female-person word — here a respectful term for someone's daughter.
phonetic
ài
love
gives both the sound ài and a fitting flavor of affection — a beloved daughter. This overlap is why is often simply written .

Stroke Order

ài