HSK 3 · Family

阿姨 āyí “auntie” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 阿姨 means

  1. auntie
  2. step-mother
  3. mother’s younger sister
  4. maternal aunt
  5. term of address for a woman of one’s mother’s generation
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • childcare worker
  • nanny
  • domestic worker

How to say 阿姨

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale阿ā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale姨yí2nd tone, rising

阿姨 in a sentence

  1. 阿姨，您别客气，喝杯开水就行。

    Āyí, nín bié kèqi, hē bēi kāishuǐ jiù xíng.

    Please don’t go to any trouble, Auntie. A glass of boiled water is fine.

    Sentence #374679 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 上个星期我们在我阿姨的家。

    Shàng ge xīngqī wǒmen zài wǒ āyí de jiā.

    We were at my aunt’s place last week.

    Sentence #9489479 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你叔叔给你阿姨剪头发。

    Nǐ shūshu gěi nǐ āyí jiǎn tóufa.

    Your uncle is cutting your aunt’s hair.

    Sentence #366518 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 阿姨 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 阿 (ā) with each of its parts in a different colour
阿āprefix used before monosyllabic names
  • 阝placeMeaning part
  • 可may · kěSound part

阝 hints at the meaning (place); 可 (kě) hints at the sound. Compare it with ā.

The character 姨 (yí) with each of its parts in a different colour
姨yímother’s sister
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 夷ancient barbarian tribes · yíSound part

女 hints at the meaning (woman); 夷 (yí) hints at the sound. Compare it with yí.

How to write 阿姨

阿 7 strokes · 姨 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

阿姨 (āyí) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 阿姨 (āyí). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 阿姨

More words: People, Body & Health

小孩儿xiǎoháir · child姓名xìngmíng · full name手shǒu · hand头tóu · head别人biéren · other people客人kèrén · guest邻居línjū · neighbour奶奶nǎinai · grandma

FAQs

阿姨 (āyí) means “auntie” or “step-mother”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it āyí: ā with a 1st tone, then yí with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 阿姨 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ayi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 阿姨 from the suggestions. Typing ayi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
阿姨 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.