Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [kinship-terms]

親族名称・呼称. Terms to refer to and address people in familial relationships. Use this tag for questions about both actual and fictive kinship.

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Do Japanese parents address their son as musuko?

In America, parents can address their son as son. For example, "Son, could you open the window for me?" Do Japanese parents address their son as 息子?
Stack0verflow
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Younger uncles and aunts

If you are older than your uncle or aunt, do you still address them as 叔母さん or 叔父さん? I see no reason why you wouldn't, but I recall once seeing a description saying that family titles are only used for elder relatives.
Angelos
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Etymology of 姪 and 甥

姪 "niece" is often pronounced [[me.i]] rather than [[meː]] (see e.g. this comment in chat). I think the reason for this is that there is a morpheme boundary in 姪, presumably 姪 = 女【め】 + イ = female イ Unfortunately, 姪 is not listed in any of the…
Earthliŋ
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How do you tell your parents and siblings you love them?

In English we describe the affection you have for your parents and siblings as "love", however this is vary different from the feelings of romantic love, things like limerence and sexual arousal, which (unless something's gone horribly wrong) you…
Tirous
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When speaking to a family (where they all have the same last name), is it okay to refer to people by their first name?

Say I know a woman named Satou Hanako, whom I would refer to as "Satou-san". If I meet her family (mom, dad, big brother, big sister, etc.), and they introduce themselves by name, how should I refer to each of them while conversing with them? Would…
chausies
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Multiple older siblings

I have 2 older sisters. When talking to other people about them, do i refer to them both as 姉 or do i refer to the younger one as 姉 and the older one as 姉上? Thanks! P.S I thought this question would have already been asked, but couldn't find any.…
Richard Watson
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Are 腹違い (harachigai) and 種違い (tanechigai) rude terms to use when referring to half-siblings?

腹違い and 種違い are ways to refer to siblings born of different mothers/fathers. Are these terms rude/disrespectful? Or are they about as innocuous as saying "half-siblings"? Also, I could open another question, but for bonus points, is ハーフ considered a…
chausies
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Using Japanese with my child

I have been learning/using Japanese for the past 16 years and now that I have become a mother to my 3 month old son, I would like to bring him up exposed to both English and Japanese. I haven't had many interactions with small children so don't know…
Laura
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Is it true step-sibling is translated the same as sibling-in-law?

I often see these weird translations sometimes of sibling-in-law (or sister-in-law or brother-in-law) but what they really mean is step-sibling (or step-sister or step-brother). I had the strangest feeling that there's some lost in translation…
BCLC
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Japanese kinship terms

How do I address someone else's great-grandchild/great-grandchildren? ひいおまごさん or ひおまごさん?
Adam
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How should I refer to my family?

I'm only starting to learn the language so last lesson I learned the family members. My teacher mentioned some "rules" and I wanted to know if they were correct and if people actually talk this way: When talking to your own family member you should…
Catalina
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Is the kanji for sister-in-law and step sister the same?

I was wondering if the kanji for both sister-in-law and step sister is 義妹 (younger sister) or 義姉 (older sister) and there's no way of differentiating them other than context?
user3992
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What are common familially intimate names?

In both family units you often find special intimate names being used between members according to their role. You have intimate familial names like 'mama' and 'papa' for parents, and words like 'honey' for children(as sons and daughters don't play…
Tirous
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Forms of address for multiple older brothers

In Japanese, I know you refer to your older sister as お姉さん and older brother as お兄さん. Something along those lines! But I have 2 older brothers, and I want to change their contact names to Japanese, like "Joshua" to "お兄さん". Both my brothers are…
p r a i s e
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Difference between 伯母 and 叔母 and how to translate them into English

I saw an ask on this but it was too confusing for me to understand ^^;; While I did do some research on the terms, I want to ask, is there no parental relations attached to them at all? Like maybe 伯母 refers to an aunt from the father's side 叔母 an…
harurookies
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