Chinese Family Relationship Names Explained (English to Chinese Guide)

Learning how to talk about family in Chinese is one of the most rewarding (and occasionally confusing) parts of connecting with Chinese heritage. Unlike English, where "aunt," "uncle," and "cousin" cover almost every relative on both sides of the family, Chinese kinship terms are built around three questions: is this person older or younger than you, are they on your father's side or your mother's side, and are they related by blood or by marriage. Once you understand that logic, the whole system starts to make sense, and it becomes a genuinely useful tool for building out your family tree.

This guide walks through the core Chinese family relationship names (in Mandarin, with pinyin) so you can label grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws correctly, and understand why Chinese speakers almost never just say "uncle" the way English speakers do.

Immediate Family

• Father: 爸爸 (bàba)
• Mother: 妈妈 (māma)
• Older brother: 哥哥 (gēge)
• Younger brother: 弟弟 (dìdi)
• Older sister: 姐姐 (jiějie)
• Younger sister: 妹妹 (mèimei)
• Son: 儿子 (érzi)
• Daughter: 女儿 (nǚ'ér)

Notice there's no single word for "sibling" the way English has one; you always specify older or younger. That distinction carries through the entire family tree and shapes birthday etiquette, inheritance customs, and even how relatives address each other at family gatherings.

Grandparents: Paternal vs Maternal

This is where Chinese really diverges from English. Your father's parents and your mother's parents get entirely different names; there's no shared word like "grandma" that works for both.

• Paternal grandfather: 爷爷 (yéye)
• Paternal grandmother: 奶奶 (nǎinai)
• Maternal grandfather: 外公 (wàigōng), also 姥爷 (lǎoye) in northern China
• Maternal grandmother: 外婆 (wàipó), also 姥姥 (lǎolao) in northern China

The character 外 (wài) literally means "outside," reflecting a traditional view of the mother's side of the family as the "outer" family, since a married-in wife historically joined her husband's household. It's a good example of how kinship vocabulary can preserve older family structures long after they've stopped shaping everyday life.

Aunts, Uncles, and Their Spouses

Chinese doesn't have one word for "uncle" or "aunt": it has, at minimum, six, depending on which side of the family and, for father's brothers, whether they're older or younger than your father.

• Father's older brother: 伯伯 (bóbo); his wife: 伯母 (bómǔ)
• Father's younger brother: 叔叔 (shūshu); his wife: 婶婶 (shěnshen)
• Father's sister: 姑姑 (gūgu); her husband: 姑父 (gūfu)
• Mother's brother: 舅舅 (jiùjiu); his wife: 舅妈 (jiùmā)
• Mother's sister: 阿姨 (āyí); her husband: 姨父 (yífu)

If you've ever wondered why a Chinese family tree chart looks more detailed than a Western one even at just two generations back, this is why: each box needs a more specific label.

Cousins: The 堂 and 表 Divide

Cousins follow the same paternal/maternal logic as grandparents. Children of your father's brothers are considered close enough to use a near-sibling prefix, 堂 (táng), while everyone else, your father's sisters' kids and all your mother's siblings' kids, use 表 (biǎo).

• Paternal-uncle's-side cousin, older male: 堂哥 (tánggē)
• Paternal-uncle's-side cousin, younger male: 堂弟 (tángdì)
• Paternal-uncle's-side cousin, older female: 堂姐 (tángjiě)
• Paternal-uncle's-side cousin, younger female: 堂妹 (tángmèi)
• All other cousins (father's sisters', mother's siblings'): 表哥/表弟/表姐/表妹 (biǎogē / biǎodì / biǎojiě / biǎomèi)

Historically, 堂 cousins often grew up sharing a family name, a household, or even a family business, which is part of why they're grouped separately from every other cousin.

In-Laws

• Husband: 老公 (lǎogōng) informally, 丈夫 (zhàngfu) formally
• Wife: 老婆 (lǎopó) informally, 妻子 (qīzi) formally
• Husband's father / mother: 公公 (gōnggong) / 婆婆 (pópo)
• Wife's father / mother: 岳父 (yuèfù) / 岳母 (yuèmǔ)

Why This Matters for Your Family Tree

If you're building out a Chinese branch of your family tree, these distinctions aren't just vocabulary trivia; they're information. Knowing whether a relative was called 姑姑 or 阿姨 tells you immediately which side of the family they belonged to, which can be a genuinely useful clue when older relatives describe family members by relationship term rather than name, which is extremely common in Chinese families. A tool like myrOoOts lets you record both the English relationship and the original Chinese term side by side, so that context isn't lost as the tree gets passed down to family members who may not speak Chinese themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do you call your grandparents in Chinese?

Paternal grandparents are 爷爷 (yéye) for grandfather and 奶奶 (nǎinai) for grandmother. Maternal grandparents are 外公 (wàigōng) or 姥爷 (lǎoye) for grandfather and 外婆 (wàipó) or 姥姥 (lǎolao) for grandmother. The terms are never interchangeable between the two sides.

Why does Chinese have so many words for "uncle"?

Because traditional Chinese kinship terms encode both which side of the family someone belongs to and, for a father's brothers, their birth order relative to your father. This made inheritance, seating order, and family obligations clear without needing to ask.

Is there a single word for "cousin" in Chinese?

Not one that covers everyone. Cousins on your father's brothers' side use the 堂 (táng) prefix, while cousins from your father's sisters and your mother's siblings all use the 表 (biǎo) prefix, combined with older/younger and male/female markers.

Do younger generations in China still use all these terms?

Many young, urban Chinese families use simplified versions or default to 阿姨/叔叔 (auntie/uncle) more loosely for any older relative or family friend, similar to how English speakers sometimes call a close family friend "auntie." The fuller traditional system is still very much alive in more rural areas and in formal or written contexts.

How should I record Chinese relationship terms in a family tree?

Record the specific term used by your family, not just "uncle" or "aunt" in English, alongside the person's name and generation. That detail often reveals which side of the family they belonged to and can help later generations reconstruct relationships that would otherwise be lost in translation.

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