<p>It's hard for average Chinese to answer the etymology of the words, I think. Why isn't &quot;son&quot; 男儿? For me, I would say because &quot;男儿&quot; has another meaning in both classic and modern Chinese.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>男儿 young man,  vital man.</p>
<p>男儿何不带吴钩，收取关山五十州. By the poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_He" rel="nofollow noreferrer">李贺</a> in 唐 Dynasty</p>
<p>nán ér hé bù dài wú gōu ,shōu qŭ guān shān wŭ shí zhōu.</p>
<p>As a man, why not I take the sharp swords to retrieve the lost lands?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In classic Chinese,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>子 infant, child</p>
<p>儿 teenager, son</p>
<p>女 daughter, female(gender)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In modern chinese(actually, in vernacular Chinese from 宋 dynasty), 子 and 儿 are common suffix words. I believe this is how 女儿 and 儿子 evovle.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-30T02:02:09.287Z
2011-12-30T03:06:58.540Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Huang
<p>On the subject of 子 and 儿, they both have the meaning of "son".</p>

<p>Sons were the shit! Old China was a male oriented society, just like most other societies older than 80 years. Sons were the privileged kind of children, and really the only children that mattered. So if you have limited resources, these will be spent on the sons, as an investment for the future. Sons could study, make money, carry on the name of the family etc. A blessing to newly weds is 早生贵子(or 族), which is hoping for the birth of a son.</p>

<p>So a 女儿 originally means a "female son". A few generations back, some families didnt even bother with naming their daughters properly (as can be read in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Swans" rel="nofollow">Wild Swans</a>).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-06-20T17:24:49.597Z
Yeah, I believe this is a case of markedness.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-02T10:47:42.823Z
2012-01-02T12:02:30.253Z
2012-01-02T12:02:30.253Z
Lars Andren
<ul>
<li>Man    男人</li>
<li>Woman  女人</li>
<li>Male   男(性)</li>
<li>Female 女(性)</li>
<li>Son 儿子</li>
<li>Daughter 女儿</li>
</ul>

<p>Male and Female when used alone to refer to people, may be translated to 男性 and 女性. 男 and 女 are not often used alone, except in some forms. 男 and 女 can be used (in form of supplementary description) to form other word as "male teacher" "男教师". </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-29T22:21:53.227Z
I've seen the 教,师 characters in Jiaoshou and Laoshi, but never together. Does it have a particular meaning or just teacher in general?
Petruza
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2011-12-30T01:28:55.157Z
@拳拳恳 It does not have special meaning. This is a common word widely used china, more formal the 老师. We have a holiday for teachers (September 10th) call 教师节. It is not used with a surname though: x王教师 x李教师 are not correct, only 王老师 李老师
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-30T01:30:07.700Z
@拳拳恳 Both 教师 and 老师 mean teacher, but when you call someone that is a teacher, you would not say 教师, but 老师. For example, you are a student, and you greet teacher Li in the morning. You would say 李老师,早上好. It's wrong to say 李教师，早上好.
Huang
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2012-01-02T06:11:49.927Z
It's also important to note `男子漢` can be used to refer to the male gender in general (I'm not sure if 女子漢 is applicable in the same context). It should also be worth mentioning that 男孩(儿) and 女孩(儿) refers (young) boy and (young) girl, respectively.
Krazer
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2012-01-02T06:34:52.710Z
@Krazer : Well, 男子汉 is not used to refer to the male gender in general. It is used to only refer to people (male) who is capable to take responsibilities (sorry this may be not precise). There no "女子汉" in Chinese language, but there is "女强人". (I'm not sure if they can form a pair). He only asked four terms, the addition two in my answer are from his original (before his edit) question. If to add more, I don't know to what extent I should answer.
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-29T16:54:45.587Z
2011-12-29T23:47:25.583Z
2011-12-29T23:47:25.583Z
fefe
<p>I know that <em>daughter</em> in Chinese is 女儿, and <em>son</em> is 儿子. A little side-question: Why isn't <em>"son"</em> 男儿?</p>

<p>My main question is this one though: apart from son and daughter stated above, what are the corresponding words (specifically or in common, please make sure to explain this) for these terms? And are there rules worth to be mentioned about their use?</p>

<ul>
<li>Man;</li>
<li>Woman;</li>
<li>Male;</li>
<li>Female;</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-29T20:54:37.177Z
I am not sure what your question is. Are you just asking for a translation to those terms?
Orion
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2011-12-29T20:56:53.087Z
*Why isn't "son" 男儿?* A Chinese speaker might as well ask: 'I know that *daughter* in Italian is *"figlia"*, and son is *"figlio"*. Why isn't *woman* "uoma" if *man* is *"uomo"*'?
Orion
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-29T21:17:32.573Z
@NullUserException They can ask that in the Italian SE when it enters Beta eheheh :D Of course my "why" is a referment to possible etymology information and not to be taken as "Why are you doing that?"
Alenanno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-29T22:19:06.977Z
@NullUserException: it seems to me that you are replying this as if you were insulted by the question. Of course you can ask why it's *Donna* and not *Uoma*, I actually would like to hear about that :D. I guess an answer to both questions is that languages are not Boolean logic, they are languages. But nevertheless you can *ask* it.
Petruza
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2011-12-29T22:53:49.417Z
@拳拳恳 Not all, I was just think it's one of those questions which has an answer that's lost in time.
Orion
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-29T23:27:48.883Z
@NullUserException If the etymology is lost, then yes. But if you know the etymology (so the reasons to be searched in its development and history in usage), then it's answerable.
Alenanno
<characters><vocabulary>
How are the terms for "male/female" and "man/woman" divided exactly?
# How are the terms for "male/female" and "man/woman" divided exactly?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-29)

I know that *daughter* in Chinese is 女儿, and *son* is 儿子. A little side-question: Why isn't *"son"* 男儿?

My main question is this one though: apart from son and daughter stated above, what are the corresponding words (specifically or in common, please make sure to explain this) for these terms? And are there rules worth to be mentioned about their use?

* Man;
* Woman;
* Male;
* Female;

**Tags:** characters, vocabulary

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I am not sure what your question is. Are you just asking for a translation to those terms?  
> **username_1**: *Why isn't "son" 男儿?* A Chinese speaker might as well ask: 'I know that *daughter* in Italian is *"figlia"*, and son is *"figlio"*. Why isn't *woman* "uoma" if *man* is *"uomo"*'?  
> **username_0**: @NullUserException They can ask that in the Italian SE when it enters Beta eheheh :D Of course my "why" is a referment to possible etymology information and not to be taken as "Why are you doing that?"  
> **username_2**: @NullUserException: it seems to me that you are replying this as if you were insulted by the question. Of course you can ask why it's *Donna* and not *Uoma*, I actually would like to hear about that :D. I guess an answer to both questions is that languages are not Boolean logic, they are languages. But nevertheless you can *ask* it.  
> **username_1**: @拳拳恳 Not all, I was just think it's one of those questions which has an answer that's lost in time.  
> **username_0**: @NullUserException If the etymology is lost, then yes. But if you know the etymology (so the reasons to be searched in its development and history in usage), then it's answerable.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2011-12-29. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

* Man 男人
* Woman 女人
* Male 男(性)
* Female 女(性)
* Son 儿子
* Daughter 女儿

Male and Female when used alone to refer to people, may be translated to 男性 and 女性. 男 and 女 are not often used alone, except in some forms. 男 and 女 can be used (in form of supplementary description) to form other word as "male teacher" "男教师".

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I've seen the 教,师 characters in Jiaoshou and Laoshi, but never together. Does it have a particular meaning or just teacher in general?  
> **username_6**: @拳拳恳 It does not have special meaning. This is a common word widely used china, more formal the 老师. We have a holiday for teachers (September 10th) call 教师节. It is not used with a surname though: x王教师 x李教师 are not correct, only 王老师 李老师  
> **username_3**: @拳拳恳 Both 教师 and 老师 mean teacher, but when you call someone that is a teacher, you would not say 教师, but 老师. For example, you are a student, and you greet teacher Li in the morning. You would say 李老师,早上好. It's wrong to say 李教师，早上好.  
> **username_7**: It's also important to note `男子漢` can be used to refer to the male gender in general (I'm not sure if 女子漢 is applicable in the same context). It should also be worth mentioning that 男孩(儿) and 女孩(儿) refers (young) boy and (young) girl, respectively.  
> **username_6**: @username_7 : Well, 男子汉 is not used to refer to the male gender in general. It is used to only refer to people (male) who is capable to take responsibilities (sorry this may be not precise). There no "女子汉" in Chinese language, but there is "女强人". (I'm not sure if they can form a pair). He only asked four terms, the addition two in my answer are from his original (before his edit) question. If to add more, I don't know to what extent I should answer.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-12-30. Score: 6

It's hard for average Chinese to answer the etymology of the words, I think. Why isn't "son" 男儿? For me, I would say because "男儿" has another meaning in both classic and modern Chinese.

> 男儿 young man, vital man.
>
> 男儿何不带吴钩，收取关山五十州. By the poet [李贺](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_He) in 唐 Dynasty
>
> nán ér hé bù dài wú gōu ,shōu qŭ guān shān wŭ shí zhōu.
>
> As a man, why not I take the sharp swords to retrieve the lost lands?

In classic Chinese,

> 子 infant, child
>
> 儿 teenager, son
>
> 女 daughter, female(gender)

In modern chinese(actually, in vernacular Chinese from 宋 dynasty), 子 and 儿 are common suffix words. I believe this is how 女儿 and 儿子 evovle.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-01-02. Score: 1

On the subject of 子 and 儿, they both have the meaning of "son".

Sons were the shit! Old China was a male oriented society, just like most other societies older than 80 years. Sons were the privileged kind of children, and really the only children that mattered. So if you have limited resources, these will be spent on the sons, as an investment for the future. Sons could study, make money, carry on the name of the family etc. A blessing to newly weds is 早生贵子(or 族), which is hoping for the birth of a son.

So a 女儿 originally means a "female son". A few generations back, some families didnt even bother with naming their daughters properly (as can be read in [Wild Swans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Swans)).

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Yeah, I believe this is a case of markedness.  

---

