雙胞胎 / 双胞胎
shuāngbāotāi
In Chinese, the word for twin is 雙胞胎 / 双胞胎 (shuāngbāotāi). Wiktionary also lists 雙生子 / 双生子 (shuāngshēngzǐ).
Meaning: either of two people who shared the same uterus, or of two similar or closely related objects (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 雙胞胎 / 双胞胎 | shuāngbāotāi |
| 雙生子 / 双生子 | shuāngshēngzǐ |
The word refers to either of two people who shared the same uterus, or to two similar or closely related objects. If you want to be more specific, you can use the formal term 同卵双胞胎 to describe identical twins or the term 龙凤胎 to describe a pair of twins consisting of one boy and one girl.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 雙胞胎 / 双胞胎 is composed of 雙 (double/pair), 胞 (womb/cell) and 胎 (fetus/embryo).
Which one should you use?
雙胞胎 / 双胞胎 is the most common way to refer to twins in everyday conversation. In contrast, 雙生子 / 双生子 is a more formal or technical term often used in biological or literary contexts.
How does it change in a sentence?
To specify the gender of the twins, you place the gender noun after the term. For example, you can use 雙胞胎女兒 / 双胞胎女儿 for twin daughters or 雙胞胎兒子 / 双胞胎儿子 for twin sons.
How do you pronounce it?
shuāngbāotāi
Did you know?
- The term for boy-girl twins, 龙凤胎, literally translates to 'dragon and phoenix twins'. In Chinese culture, the 'dragon' represents the boy and the 'phoenix' represents the girl.
- In historical Chinese contexts, twins were sometimes viewed with suspicion or as an omen, leading to different literary treatments of 双生子 compared to single births.
- While 双胞胎 is the standard term, some dialects use the word 双子, which is also the name for the Gemini constellation in Chinese.
Examples in context
- 他们是一对兄弟姐妹，是双胞胎。They are a pair of siblings, they are twins.
- 我朋友有一对同卵双胞胎，他们长得一模一样！My friend has a pair of identical twins, they look exactly the same!
- 这对双胞胎兄弟长得真像！These twin brothers really look alike!
- 我的邻居有一对龙凤胎，男孩子像爸爸，女孩子像妈妈。My neighbor has a pair of twins, the boy looks like the father, and the girl looks like the mother.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “twin” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
