姨

yí
noun HSK 6 #13,579

Meanings

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

Examples

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

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
女 nǚ
woman (radical)
Left woman radical - the indexing radical. Pictures a kneeling figure with crossed hands, the canonical female posture in oracle bone script. Anchors 姨 firmly in the kinship/female family with 姐 elder sister, 妹 younger sister, 妈 mother, 姑 aunt-on-father's-side. Marks every female relative term in Chinese.
phonetic
夷 yí
non-Han peoples (here phonetic)
Right 夷 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 痍 wound, 胰 pancreas, 咦 'huh?'. 姨 names the maternal aunt - mother's sister - distinct from paternal 姑.

Stroke Order

姨 yí