Uniquely Teochew/Minnan Kinship Terms (6)

This is the sixth and last in a series of posts on Teochew kinship terms, featuring words used to address relatives that are found in Teochew or other Minnan languages but not in Mandarin.

新婦 sing1bu6 / sim1bu6 • daughter-in-law • 媳婦 xífù

囝婿 gian2sai3 • son-in-law • 女婿 nǚxù

阿郎 a1neng5 • son-in-law • 女婿 nǚxù

新婦 sing1bu6 is also pronounced sim1bu6, where the -ng sound is changed to -m because it is followed by a b- sound, making it easier to pronounce. 新婦 is also a term for “bride” in literary Chinese, but in Teochew, a bride is sing1niê5 新娘.

There are two terms for son-in-law, either 囝婿 gian2sai3, similar to other Min languages, or 阿郎 a1neng5, which seems to be unique to Teochew. It is interesting to observe that the Hakka word for son-in-law is 婿郎 sê4long2. Maybe Teochew and Hakka have had some influence on each other, but if so, who borrowed from whom?

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Posted on 2021-02-09 00:00:00 +0000


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