<p><strong>WARNING: THIS ANSWER CONTAINS STRONG PERSONAL OPINIONS</strong></p>
<p>姊 is only used in ONE SINGLE fixed expression: 姊妹, which is an old school, folk or country(I don't know which one is appropriate), literary atmosphere word.</p>
<p>In my life, I have only seen <em>old</em> people use 姊妹 to rely on questions like &quot;How many children are in your family?&quot;</p>
<p>&quot;我家里姊妹四人&quot; (There 4 sisters in my family).
You see, this conversation is in between strangers, so it sounds a little formal. And that is the case 姊 is used.</p>
<p>The standard way of mainlanders addresses their &quot;older sister&quot; is 姐姐 or 大姐 and other 姐 variants.</p>
<p>姊 is pronounced as zi3, no matter if speaking or writing.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-20T19:40:38.270Z
Appreciate your answer. So, the 稱呼 - "姊姊" (as for elder sister) is not used in China in speaking and writing-wise?
r13
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2022-07-21T05:40:59.567Z
@r13, No,  姊姊 is never used in modern Mandarin.
sfy
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2022-07-21T12:09:44.213Z
My suggested correction to your reply: "姊姊 is not presently used in mainland China."
r13
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2022-07-21T15:52:31.663Z
@r13 Yeah, that is what I mean, My English is bad, can't express what I want to say.
sfy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-21T17:50:25.513Z
The reason for that suggestion is because 姊姊 [jiě jie] is still in use in Taiwan, where people speak modern/standard Mandarin as well. Your English is fine, if not better than mine :)
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-20T17:35:08.360Z
2022-07-20T17:48:13.957Z
2022-07-20T17:48:13.957Z
sfy
<p>【說文解字】has 姊, which means 女兄也. So, we know 姊 is quite old. The same dictionary doesn't have 姉. If you check 姊 in 康熙字典, you get a very short explanation: 「同上」. The character above it is 姉. So, at some moment after the Han dynasty, 姉 became more popular or formal. When was 姉 more popular or formal than 姊? I don't know but judging by the fact that Japanese now still uses 姉 and not 姊, maybe it was during the Tang dynasty that 姉 was quite popular.</p>
<p>If you check 姐 in 康熙字典, it says its older forms are 她毑; both mean mother. So, the original meaning of 姐 was mother and later became elder sister as seen here:《字彙．女部》：「姐，弟呼姊曰姐。」</p>
<p>You can find the term 姊姊 in late Qing and early Mingguo novels such as 【鏡花緣】、【拍案驚奇】、【二十年目睹之怪現狀】、【峨嵋仙踪】、【江湖奇俠傳】、【宋代宮闈史】.</p>
<p>Nowadays, 姊姊 is no longer used in daily converation. If you check Google, you can find a lot of hits on 姊姊. I suspect most of them should be 姐姐. And some are even annotated as jiě jie. I guess pretty soon, 姊姊 would have a second pronunciaiton &quot;jiě jie&quot;, as seen in 國語辭典.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-21T00:56:29.950Z
Thanks for your effort in distinguishing these two words. As mentioned, many novels contained the term 姊姊, and most of them have been played on stages. My question is "have you ever heard anybody in the play, or in real living, call their elder sister as zi zi?" I don't watch the traditional opera (京戲/劇),  but guess it may offer some clues.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-20T21:56:21.437Z
2022-07-20T21:56:21.437Z
joehua
<p>As stated in the subject title, I wonder what the standard way of mainlanders address their &quot;older sister&quot;, whether she is called &quot;zi zi&quot; or &quot;jiě jie&quot;, and how the pronunciation related to the Chinese characters &quot;姊姊&quot; and &quot;姐姐&quot;.</p>
<p>When in writing, which one is, or both are, correct - &quot;我的姊姊&quot;, &quot;我的姐姐&quot;, and how do you expect the readers to pronounce it?</p>

<word><pronunciation>
The standard 称謂 of elder sister in mainland China
# The standard 称謂 of elder sister in mainland China

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-20)

As stated in the subject title, I wonder what the standard way of mainlanders address their "older sister", whether she is called "zi zi" or "jiě jie", and how the pronunciation related to the Chinese characters "姊姊" and "姐姐".

When in writing, which one is, or both are, correct - "我的姊姊", "我的姐姐", and how do you expect the readers to pronounce it?

**Tags:** word, pronunciation


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-20. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

**WARNING: THIS ANSWER CONTAINS STRONG PERSONAL OPINIONS**

姊 is only used in ONE SINGLE fixed expression: 姊妹, which is an old school, folk or country(I don't know which one is appropriate), literary atmosphere word.

In my life, I have only seen *old* people use 姊妹 to rely on questions like "How many children are in your family?"

"我家里姊妹四人" (There 4 sisters in my family).
You see, this conversation is in between strangers, so it sounds a little formal. And that is the case 姊 is used.

The standard way of mainlanders addresses their "older sister" is 姐姐 or 大姐 and other 姐 variants.

姊 is pronounced as zi3, no matter if speaking or writing.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Appreciate your answer. So, the 稱呼 - "姊姊" (as for elder sister) is not used in China in speaking and writing-wise?  
> **username_1**: @username_0, No,  姊姊 is never used in modern Mandarin.  
> **username_0**: My suggested correction to your reply: "姊姊 is not presently used in mainland China."  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Yeah, that is what I mean, My English is bad, can't express what I want to say.  
> **username_0**: The reason for that suggestion is because 姊姊 [jiě jie] is still in use in Taiwan, where people speak modern/standard Mandarin as well. Your English is fine, if not better than mine :)  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-07-20. Score: 2

【說文解字】has 姊, which means 女兄也. So, we know 姊 is quite old. The same dictionary doesn't have 姉. If you check 姊 in 康熙字典, you get a very short explanation: 「同上」. The character above it is 姉. So, at some moment after the Han dynasty, 姉 became more popular or formal. When was 姉 more popular or formal than 姊? I don't know but judging by the fact that Japanese now still uses 姉 and not 姊, maybe it was during the Tang dynasty that 姉 was quite popular.

If you check 姐 in 康熙字典, it says its older forms are 她毑; both mean mother. So, the original meaning of 姐 was mother and later became elder sister as seen here:《字彙．女部》：「姐，弟呼姊曰姐。」

You can find the term 姊姊 in late Qing and early Mingguo novels such as 【鏡花緣】、【拍案驚奇】、【二十年目睹之怪現狀】、【峨嵋仙踪】、【江湖奇俠傳】、【宋代宮闈史】.

Nowadays, 姊姊 is no longer used in daily converation. If you check Google, you can find a lot of hits on 姊姊. I suspect most of them should be 姐姐. And some are even annotated as jiě jie. I guess pretty soon, 姊姊 would have a second pronunciaiton "jiě jie", as seen in 國語辭典.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your effort in distinguishing these two words. As mentioned, many novels contained the term 姊姊, and most of them have been played on stages. My question is "have you ever heard anybody in the play, or in real living, call their elder sister as zi zi?" I don't watch the traditional opera (京戲/劇),  but guess it may offer some clues.  

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