noun #61,425

Meanings

  1. 1 daughter-in-law
  2. 2 wife of a younger relative
  3. 3 young married woman

Examples

HSK 6
Zài Zhōngguó běifāng, xífu yě kěyǐ zhǐ qīzi.
In northern China, 'xifu' can also just mean 'wife'.
HSK 7-9
Tā de érxí hěn xiàoshùn, hé jiārén xiāngchǔ de hěn hǎo.
Her daughter-in-law is very dutiful and gets along well with the family.
HSK 7-9
Zhè duì xiǎo fūqī shànggèyuè gāng qǔ le xífù.
The young couple just got married last month.

Tips

usage
Common in 儿媳 ('daughter-in-law') and 媳妇 ('son's wife'). Note the tone of the second syllable: 媳妇 is the son's wife, but toneless 媳妇 in the north often just means 'wife'.

Components

radical
woman; female
The woman radical on the left marks this as a female family member, here the woman who marries into the household as a son's wife.
phonetic
breath; offspring
On the right it supplies the sound (shifted to xí) and a faint meaning: can mean 'offspring', so a son's wife is the one who joins to continue the line.

Stroke Order