Character library › Who's who in a Chinese family
Who's who in a Chinese family — free printable worksheets
Chinese has no plain word for "brother". It has one for an older brother and a different one for a younger. Here is the map.
20 characters · 2 sheets · A4 and US Letter
Why these 20
English gets by with brother, sister, aunt, uncle and grandparent. Chinese does not: age, side of the family and relationship by blood or by marriage are all built into the word itself. 哥 is an older brother and 弟 a younger one, and there is no neutral term covering both. This looks like extra work until you notice what it buys — a Chinese speaker knows the shape of a family the moment somebody names its members.
All 20 characters
| 家 | jiā | home; family | 10 strokes |
| 人 | rén | person | 2 strokes |
| 爸 | bà | dad | 8 strokes |
| 妈 | mā | mum | 6 strokes |
| 哥 | gē | older brother | 10 strokes |
| 姐 | jiě | older sister | 8 strokes |
| 弟 | dì | younger brother | 7 strokes |
| 妹 | mèi | younger sister | 8 strokes |
| 儿 | ér | child; son | 2 strokes |
| 子 | zǐ | child | 3 strokes |
| 女 | nǚ | woman | 3 strokes |
| 男 | nán | male | 7 strokes |
| 爷 | yé | grandfather | 6 strokes |
| 奶 | nǎi | grandmother; milk | 5 strokes |
| 老 | lǎo | old | 6 strokes |
| 朋 | péng | friend | 8 strokes |
| 友 | yǒu | friend | 4 strokes |
| 好 | hǎo | good | 6 strokes |
| 爱 | ài | to love | 10 strokes |
| 名 | míng | name | 6 strokes |
Questions people ask
With a family word anyway. A woman your mother's age can be 阿姨, a man your father's age 叔叔, an older classmate 学长 or 学姐. Using kinship terms for non-relatives is normal and polite.