HSK 3 · Family

奶奶 nǎinai “grandma” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 奶奶 means

  1. grandma
  2. paternal grandmother
  3. (informal) grandma (paternal grandmother)
  4. (respectful) mistress of the house
  5. (coll.) boobies
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • breasts

Measure word 位 wèi · 一位奶奶 yí wèi nǎinai

How to say 奶奶

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale奶nǎi3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own奶naineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

奶奶 in a sentence

  1. 她一直带奶奶去散步。

    Tā yìzhí dài nǎinai qù sànbù.

    She always takes her grandma for walks.

    Sentence #2031416 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 这是我奶奶的食谱。

    Zhè shì wǒ nǎinai de shípǔ.

    This is my grandma’s recipe.

    Sentence #10340680 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这条项链是我奶奶送给我的。

    Zhè tiáo xiàngliàn shì wǒ nǎinai sònggěi wǒ de.

    My grandma gave me this necklace.

    Sentence #2737442 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 奶奶 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 奶 (nǎi) with each of its parts in a different colour
奶nǎibreast
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 乃then · nǎiSound part

女 hints at the meaning (woman); 乃 (nǎi) hints at the sound. Compare it with nǎi.

The character 奶 (nǎi) with each of its parts in a different colour
奶nǎibreastlight in 奶奶
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part
  • 乃then · nǎiSound part

女 hints at the meaning (woman); 乃 (nǎi) hints at the sound. Compare it with nai.

How to write 奶奶

奶 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 奶奶

Words with 奶

牛奶niúnǎi · milk奶茶nǎichá · milk tea

More words: People, Body & Health

阿姨āyí · auntie别人biéren · other people客人kèrén · guest邻居línjū · neighbour叔叔shūshu · father’s younger brother同事tóngshì · colleague爷爷yéye · father’s father自己zìjǐ · oneself

FAQs

奶奶 (nǎinai) means “grandma” or “paternal grandmother”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it nǎinai: nǎi with a 3rd tone, then nai with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 奶奶 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 位 (wèi). For example, one grandma is 一位奶奶 (yí wèi nǎinai).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nainai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 奶奶 from the suggestions. Typing nainai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
奶奶 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.