姪 / 侄
zhí
The English word nephew can be translated into Chinese as 姪 / 侄 (zhí) or 外甥 depending on which sibling the nephew belongs to. Wiktionary also lists 姪子 / 侄子 (zhízǐ).
Meaning: fraternal or sororal nephew (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 姪 / 侄 | zhí |
| 姪子 / 侄子 | zhízǐ |
| 外甥 | wàishēng |
In Chinese, the term used for nephew depends entirely on whether the nephew is the son of your brother or the son of your sister. Use 姪 / 侄 or 姪子 / 侄子 to refer to a brother's son, and use 外甥 to refer to a sister's son.
Which one should you use?
Use 姪子 / 侄子 (or the shorter 姪 / 侄) specifically for a brother's son. In contrast, use 外甥 to specify a nephew who is a sister's son.
How do you pronounce it?
zhí
Did you know?
- The character 姪 is a phono-semantic compound consisting of the radical for 'woman' 女 and the phonetic element 至.
- The term 外甥 (wàishēng) contains the character 外, which means 'outside'. This reflects a traditional view where siblings from the mother's side are considered part of an 'outside' lineage.
- While 侄子 is the standard term, in very formal or ancient contexts, different terms were used depending on whether the brother was older or younger than the speaker.
Examples in context
- 她等著接外甥。She's waiting to pick up her nephew.This sentence is useful for seeing how to use 外甥 when referring to a nephew.Tatoeba #13956875 by LeviHighway, translation #7389391 by CH
- 我亲爱的外甥啊！My dear nephew!
- 大家好，这是我的侄子和侄女。Hello, everyone, these are my nephews and nieces.
- 侄儿，你回来了！Nephew, you're back!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “nephew” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 姪, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
