兄弟

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Chinese

elder brother younger brother
simp. and trad.
(兄弟)
anagram 弟兄

Etymology

Dvandva of (xiōng, “older brother”) + (, “younger brother”)

Pronunciation 1


Note:
  • hiaⁿ-tī/hiaⁿ-tǐ - vernacular;
  • heng-tē/heng-tě - literary.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/2 2/2
Initial () (32) (7) (7)
Final () (112) (39) (39)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Rising (X) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Closed Open Open
Division () III IV IV
Fanqie
Baxter xjwaeng dejX dejH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/hˠwiæŋ/ /deiX/ /deiH/
Pan
Wuyun
/hʷᵚiaŋ/ /deiX/ /deiH/
Shao
Rongfen
/xiuaŋ/ /dɛiX/ /dɛiH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/hwiajŋ/ /dɛjX/ /dɛjH/
Li
Rong
/xiuɐŋ/ /deiX/ /deiH/
Wang
Li
/xĭwɐŋ/ /dieiX/ /dieiH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/xi̯wɐŋ/ /dʱieiX/ /dʱieiH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
xiōng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
hing1 dai6 dai6
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
xiōng
Middle
Chinese
‹ xjwæng › ‹ dejX ›
Old
Chinese
/*m̥raŋ/ /*lˁəjʔ/
English elder brother younger brother

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1 1/2 2/2
No. 13905 2294 2297
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0 1 1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*hmraŋ/ /*diːlʔ/ /*diːls/
Notes

Noun

兄弟

  1. (literal) brother
  2. (literal) brethren; brothers and sisters; siblings
  3. (figurative) brothers; close friends; good friends (Classifier: m)
  4. (neologism, fandom slang, chiefly masculine) term to address fellow/peer-netizens on social media platforms
  5. gangster
  6. (Cantonese) groomsman
Synonyms
  • (brother):
  • (groomsman): 伴郎 (bànláng)
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of brother): 姐妹 (jiěmèi)
Derived terms
Descendants
Sino-Xenic (兄弟):

Pronunciation 2


Noun

兄弟

  1. (Mandarin, Gan, Jin, dialectal Wu, colloquial) younger brother
  2. (colloquial) my brother; bro (A term of address for a close friend of similar age or younger)
    兄弟今天請客 [MSC, trad.]
    兄弟今天请客 [MSC, simp.]
    Xiōngdì, wǒ jīntiān qǐngkè.
    My brother, it's my treat today.
    兄弟今仔日請人 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
    兄弟今仔日请人 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]
    Hiaⁿ-tī, góa kin-á-ji̍t chhiáⁿ-lâng. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
    My brother, it's my treat today.
Synonyms

Pronoun

兄弟

  1. A humble term of self-address used by a man to people of the same generation.

Japanese

Kanji in this term
けい
Grade: 2
てい
Grade: 2
kan'on
Kanji in this term
きょう
Grade: 2
だい
Grade: 2
goon
 兄弟 on Japanese Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From (kyō, elder brother, Go-on) +‎ (dai, younger brother, Go-on), from Middle Chinese 兄弟.

Alternatively, from (kei, elder brother) (Kan-on) +‎ (tei, younger brother) (Kan-on), from Chinese 兄弟. Compare 兄妹 (keimai, elder brother and younger sister), 姉弟 (shitei, elder sister and younger brother), and 姉妹 (shimai, elder and younger sisters).

Pronunciation

Noun

(きょう)(だい) (kyōdaiきやうだい (kyaudai)? (alternative reading hiragana けいてい, rōmaji keitei)

  1. brothers
    だんご(さん)(きょう)(だい)
    dango san kyōdai
    Dango three brothers
  2. (by extension) siblings in general
    (おとこ)(きょう)(だい)
    otoko kyōdai
    brothers
    (おんな)(きょう)(だい)
    onna kyōdai
    sisters
  3. (by extension) brothers and sisters; brethren (brotherhood; fellowship)

Usage notes

  • Note that the alternative forms listed above are used to be specific to the kinds of siblings.
  • For the general "siblings" sense, hiragana may be used instead of kanji.
  • The alternative spellings are only utilised for the siblings sense and may only be used with the pronunciation kyōdai

Hypernyms

Coordinate terms

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

Korean

Hanja in this term

Noun

兄弟 (hyeongje) (hangeul 형제)

  1. hanja form? of 형제 (brother, brothers, sibling)

Kunigami

Kanji in this term
ちょー
Grade: 2
れー
Grade: 2

Etymology

Cognate to Japanese 兄弟 (kyōdai).

Pronunciation

Noun

(ちょー)(れー) (chōrē

  1. siblings; brothers and sisters

Okinawan

Kanji in this term
ちょー
Grade: 2
でー
Grade: 2

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 兄弟 (kyōdai).

Pronunciation

Noun

(ちょー)(でー) (chōdē

  1. siblings; brothers and sisters

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Noun

兄弟

  1. chữ Hán form of huynh đệ (brothers).