Chinese kinship terms: what to call every relative
9 min read
A complete reference to Chinese family titles — grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews and in-laws — in written Chinese with Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation.
English gets by with about a dozen family words. "Uncle" covers four different people; "cousin" covers eight. Chinese does the opposite: it gives nearly every position in the family its own title, and using the wrong one is immediately noticeable at a family gathering.
This guide lists the terms you actually need, grouped the way a family tree is shaped. Written forms are given first, then Mandarin pinyin and Cantonese Jyutping, because the same characters are often said very differently in Hong Kong and in Beijing.
The four questions behind every title
Chinese kinship terms are not arbitrary vocabulary to memorise. Each one is assembled from answers to the same four questions, which is why the system stays consistent no matter how far out you go:
- Generation — is this person above you, level with you, or below you?
- Side — are they related through your father or through your mother? Maternal relatives usually take 外 ("outside") or 表.
- Seniority — within one generation, are they older or younger than the person they are being compared to?
- Gender — of the relative, and sometimes of the relative who connects you to them.
Grandparents
The paternal / maternal split shows up in the very first generation above your parents. Your mother's parents carry 外 or the softer everyday 公公 / 婆婆 used across Hong Kong and Guangdong.
| Relative | Chinese term | Mandarin (pinyin) | Cantonese (Jyutping) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Father's father | 祖父／爺爺 | zǔfù / yéye | zou2 fu6 / je4 je4 |
| Father's mother | 祖母／嫲嫲（奶奶） | zǔmǔ / nǎinai | zou2 mou5 / maa4 maa4 |
| Mother's father | 外祖父／公公（外公） | wàizǔfù / wàigōng | ngoi6 zou2 fu6 / gung1 gung1 |
| Mother's mother | 外祖母／婆婆（外婆） | wàizǔmǔ / wàipó | ngoi6 zou2 mou5 / po4 po4 |
Your father's brothers and sisters
On the father's side, seniority matters: your father's older brother and younger brother have completely different titles, and so do their wives. Getting this pair right is the single fastest way to sound like you know the family.
| Relative | Chinese term | Mandarin (pinyin) | Cantonese (Jyutping) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Father's older brother | 伯父／伯伯 | bófù / bóbo | baak3 fu6 |
| Father's older brother's wife | 伯母 | bómǔ | baak3 mou5 |
| Father's younger brother | 叔父／叔叔 | shūfù / shūshu | suk1 suk1 |
| Father's younger brother's wife | 嬸嬸／阿嬸 | shěnshen | sam2 sam2 |
| Father's older sister | 姑媽 | gūmā | gu1 maa1 |
| Father's younger sister | 姑姐（姑姑） | gūgu | gu1 ze1 |
| Father's sister's husband | 姑丈 | gūzhàng | gu1 zoeng6 |
Your mother's brothers and sisters
On the mother's side the terms are simpler — her brothers share one title regardless of age in everyday Hong Kong speech, while her sisters split by seniority.
| Relative | Chinese term | Mandarin (pinyin) | Cantonese (Jyutping) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mother's brother | 舅父（舅舅） | jiùjiu | kau5 fu2 |
| Mother's brother's wife | 舅母 | jiùmǔ | kau5 mou5 |
| Mother's older sister | 姨媽 | yímā | ji4 maa1 |
| Mother's younger sister | 阿姨／姨姨 | āyí | ji4 ji1 |
| Mother's sister's husband | 姨丈 | yízhàng | ji4 zoeng6 |
Brothers, sisters and cousins
Siblings are ranked, never neutral: there is no single word for "brother" that avoids saying whether he is older or younger than you.
Cousins reuse those four sibling words with a prefix. 堂 marks the cousins who share your surname — the children of your father's brothers. 表 marks everyone else. The next guide covers why that line exists.
| Relative | Chinese term | Mandarin (pinyin) | Cantonese (Jyutping) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Older brother | 哥哥 | gēge | go4 go1 |
| Younger brother | 弟弟 | dìdi | dai4 dai2 |
| Older sister | 姐姐 | jiějie | ze2 ze1 |
| Younger sister | 妹妹 | mèimei | mui4 mui2 |
| Father's brother's son (older) | 堂哥 | tánggē | tong4 go1 |
| Father's brother's son (younger) | 堂弟 | tángdì | tong4 dai6 |
| Father's brother's daughter (older) | 堂姐 | tángjiě | tong4 ze2 |
| Father's brother's daughter (younger) | 堂妹 | tángmèi | tong4 mui6 |
| Any other cousin (older male) | 表哥 | biǎogē | biu2 go1 |
| Any other cousin (younger male) | 表弟 | biǎodì | biu2 dai6 |
| Any other cousin (older female) | 表姐 | biǎojiě | biu2 ze2 |
| Any other cousin (younger female) | 表妹 | biǎomèi | biu2 mui6 |
Children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren
Below your own generation the 外 marker returns: a sister's children and a daughter's children are counted as belonging to another family line, and their titles say so.
| Relative | Chinese term | Mandarin (pinyin) | Cantonese (Jyutping) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Son | 兒子 | érzi | ji4 zi2 |
| Daughter | 女兒 | nǚ'ér | neoi5 ji4 |
| Brother's son | 姪（侄子） | zhízi | zat6 |
| Brother's daughter | 姪女 | zhínǚ | zat6 neoi5 |
| Sister's son | 外甥 | wàishēng | ngoi6 saang1 |
| Sister's daughter | 外甥女 | wàishēngnǚ | ngoi6 saang1 neoi5 |
| Son's son | 孫 | sūn | syun1 |
| Son's daughter | 孫女 | sūnnǚ | syun1 neoi5 |
| Daughter's son | 外孫 | wàisūn | ngoi6 syun1 |
| Daughter's daughter | 外孫女 | wàisūnnǚ | ngoi6 syun1 neoi5 |
In-laws, and one trap worth knowing
Marriage brings a second set of titles, and here Hong Kong Cantonese and Mandarin genuinely disagree. 奶奶 in Mandarin means your father's mother. In Cantonese, 奶奶 (naai4 naai2) is your husband's mother. Same characters, different woman — worth checking before you use it in a message to relatives.
| Relative | Chinese term | Mandarin (pinyin) | Cantonese (Jyutping) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Husband's father | 老爺（公公） | gōnggong | lou5 je4 |
| Husband's mother | 奶奶 | pópo | naai4 naai2 |
| Wife's father | 外父（岳父） | yuèfù | ngoi6 fu2 |
| Wife's mother | 外母（岳母） | yuèmǔ | ngoi6 mou5 |
| Older brother's wife | 嫂／大嫂 | sǎo | sou2 |
| Younger brother's wife | 弟婦 | dìfù | dai6 fu5 |
| Older sister's husband | 姐夫 | jiěfū | ze2 fu1 |
| Younger sister's husband | 妹夫 | mèifū | mui6 fu1 |
When you genuinely don't know
Every family has the relative nobody can place. Two habits help. First, work the path out loud — "my mother's older sister's son, older than me" — because the title falls out of the path automatically once you know the four rules above. Second, when addressing someone at a gathering and you are stuck, a respectful generic (阿姨, 叔叔) is far better than guessing a specific title wrongly.
This is also exactly the calculation Famiroot performs. Once the relationships are recorded, the correct title for any two people in the tree is derived from the path between them rather than remembered.
Record your relatives once and every title in this guide is worked out for you, in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese or English.