MANDARIN CHINESE
SPEAKERS: 1,119,961,120
Mandarin Chinese (or simply Mandarin) is the world's second-most spoken language with more than one billion speakers. Masculine-feminine gender appears in Mandarin in many different ways. Often the gendered distinction exists only in writing, as in the case of the pronouns 他 'he' and 她 'she' (both pronounced [ta˥]), which queer speakers have neutralized with the inclusive pronouns TA (pinyin) and X也.
Chinese script is comprised of pictographic characters called radicals which bear or connote meaning and are often standalone characters themselves. These radicals can also be combined to form characters. While Mandarin is not a grammatically gendered language in the way that Romance languages are, it carries gendered meanings in the radical system (as in the case of 女, meaning 'woman') as well as in the positive or negative connotations associated with terms that refer to a binary gender system.
PARTIAL GENDERED LEXICON AND INCLUSIVE FORMS OF MANDARIN CHINESE
by COOPER BEDIN, CHELSEA TANG & IRENE YI
This lexicon is broken up into general categories of words in Mandarin on which gender are marked—for example, personal pronouns such as ‘he’, ‘she’, and ‘they’; terms used to refer to family members or romantic partners; terms used by and for the LGBTQ+ community; etc. Most sections have three columns, where the leftmost column contains male-specific terms, the middle column contains female-specific terms, and the rightmost column contains neutral or gender-inclusive terms. In general, words in the same row can be expected to differ only in gender, and not, for example, in politeness or formality. For this reason, there are many blank cells—each table also has an attached note highlighting blank cells that would need to be filled to make the language gender-inclusive.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL—PINYIN
INCLUSIVE—X
他
tā
‘he’
她
tā
‘she’
TA
tā
‘they [SG.]’
X也
tā
‘they [SG.]’
While no gender-inclusive or gender-neutral 3rd person singular pronoun is widely used or accepted, ‘TA’ appears sometimes in news and media. ‘X也’ is a novel innovation. ATTESTED... It is also important to note that all of these pronouns are pronounced the same, and so the difference between them is not detectable in spoken Mandarin. This often leads to the claim that Mandarin does not "have" gendered pronouns.
While ‘TA’ and ‘X也’ both provide a way to write the third-person singular pronoun in a gender-neutral way, there are difficulties in treating them as equivalents of ‘他’ and ‘她’. ‘TA’ is conspicuous because it is not written with Chinese characters, and is (I think?) in usage currently reserved to more formal contexts such as subtitling on a news broadcast. ‘X也’ is an innovation that was created by and for queer speakers of Mandarin seeking a neutral form, but is not recognizable by most speakers of Mandarin without explanation, and cannot (yet) be rendered by computers as a single character in the way that 人也 and 女也 can be.
KINSHIP TERMS
IMMEDIATE FAMILY
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: There is no gender-neutral or non-binary terms for parents and siblings in Mandarin. ‘父母’ and ‘兄弟姐妹’ each describe groups of people—“both of my parents” and “all of my siblings” respectively, and there is no gender-neutral way to refer to a single parent or sibling. Additionally, the character-by-character constructions of ‘父母’ and ‘兄弟姐妹’ are based on the gendered singulars and so still assume binary gender.
爸爸
bà ba
‘father’
儿子
ér zi
‘son’
弟弟
dì dì
‘younger brother’
哥哥
gē gē
‘older brother’
妈妈
mā ma
‘mother’
女儿
nǚ ér
‘daughter’
妹妹
mèi mei
‘younger sister’
姐姐
jiě jiě
‘older sister’
父母
fù mǔ
‘parents’
lit. ‘father and mother’
孩子
hái zi
‘child’
兄弟姐妹
xiōng dì jiě mèi
'siblings'
lit. 'brothers and sisters'
SPOUSES
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: The gendered binary term, ‘夫妻’, is the most used form to describe a married couple. Its non-binary alternative, ‘配偶’, is very rarely used in informal settings. ‘家属’ is now used quite often on social media to refer to one's married significant other.
丈夫
zhàng fū
‘husband’
老公
lǎo gōng
‘hubby’ (informal)
妻子
qī zi
‘wife’
老婆
lǎo pó
‘wifey’ (informal)
夫妻
fū qī
‘(married) spouse’
lit. 'husband and wife'
配偶
pèi ǒu
‘(married) spouse’
家属
jiā shǔ
‘family member’
PARTNERS
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: ‘对象’ is a commonly used gender-inclusive term for 'significant other', but exclusively in informal settings. ‘另一半’ and ‘伴侣’ are very rarely used in informal settings.
男朋友
nán péng yǒu
‘boyfriend’
女朋友
nǚ péng yǒu
‘girlfriend’
对象
duì xiàng
‘significant other’ (informal)
另一半
lìng yí bàn
‘significant other’
伴侣
bàn lǚ
‘partner’
EXTENDED FAMILY
Extended family terms are marked for the gender of both the person you're talking about and a family member by whom they're connected to you—either a parent, sibling, or spouse. Because this is a lexicon of gender in the language, extended family terms are divided into these three categories, and then within each category by the gender of the person referred to and the gender of the connecting family member. Currently, we have not found any attestations of gender-neutral or gender-inclusive variants for any of these terms. Ultimately, creating completely gender-neutral terms for extended family members would require collapsing all four of the columns in each table below. Terms marked with an * have not been widely attested, because they would refer to queer family members, but are inferred by exploiting patterns in the constructions of these words.
Notes: In traditional Chinese families, a person's paternal relatives are seen as "closer" than their maternal relatives. This reflects the patriarchy and sexism embedded in Chinese cultures.
MASCULINE (PATERNAL)
FEMININE (PATERNAL)
MASCULINE (MATERNAL)
FEMININE (MATERNAL)
爷爷
yé yé
‘paternal grandfather’
伯伯
bó bo
‘father's older brother’
姑夫
gū fū
‘father's older sister's husband’
叔叔
shū shu
‘father's younger brother’
姑夫
gū fū
‘father's younger sister's husband’
堂哥
táng gē
‘father's sibling's son’ (older than you)
堂弟
táng dì
‘father's sibling's son’ (younger than you)
奶奶
nǎi nai
‘paternal grandmother’
伯母
bó mǔ
‘father's older brother's wife’
姑妈
gū mā
‘father's older sister’
婶婶
shěn shěn
‘father's younger brother's wife
姑姑
gū gū
‘father's younger sister’
堂姐
táng jiě
‘father's sibling's daughter’ (older than you)
堂妹
táng mèi
‘father's sibling's daughter’ (younger than you)
外公
wài gōng
‘maternal grandfather’
舅舅
jiù jiu
‘mother's brother’
姨夫
yí fū
‘mother's older sister's husband’
姨丈
yí zhāng
‘mother's younger sister's husband’
表哥
biǎo gē
‘mother's sibling's son’ (older than you)
表弟
biǎo dì
‘mother's sibling's son’ (younger than you)
外婆
wài pó
‘maternal grandmother’
舅妈
jiù mā
‘mother's brother's wife’
姨妈
yí mā
‘mother's older sister’
阿姨
ā yí
‘mother's younger sister’
表姐
biǎo jiě
‘mother's sibling's daughter’ (older than you)
表妹
biǎo mèi
‘mother's sibling's daughter’ (younger than you)
MASCULINE (FRATERNAL)
FEMININE (FRATERNAL)
MASCULINE (SORORAL)
FEMININE (SORORAL)
姪子
zhí zi
‘brother's son’
嫂子
sǎo zi
‘older brother's wife’
弟妹
dì fù
‘younger brother's wife’
姪女
zhí nǚ
‘brother's daughter’
姐夫
jiě fū
‘older sister's husband’
妹夫
mèi fū
‘younger sister's husband’
外甥
wài shēng
‘sister's son’
姐妇*
jiě fù
‘older sister's wife’
妹妇*
mèi fù
‘younger sister's wife’
外甥女
wài sheng nǚ
‘sister's daughter’
MASCULINE (HUSBAND)
FEMININE (HUSBAND)
MASCULINE (WIFE)
FEMININE (WIFE)
公公
gōng gong
‘husband's father’
婆婆
pó po
‘husband's mother’
岳父
yuè fù
‘mother's father’
岳母
yuè mǔ
‘wife's mother’
TO MARRY
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: Both ‘娶’ and ‘嫁’ objectify women. The semantic radical of ‘娶’ is ‘取’ meaning ‘pick up an object’. The semantic radical of ‘嫁’ is ‘家’ meaning ‘home/family’, the action of ‘嫁’ means that the woman is transferred to another family/household. Also, both of these characters exclude people who identify themselves as neither male or female. ‘结婚’ is a much more inclusive term to use.
娶
qǔ
‘man marrying woman’ (v.)
嫁
jià
‘woman being married by man’ (v.)
嫁娶
jià qǔ
‘marry’ (v.)
结婚
jié hūn
‘marry’ (v.)
TERMS RELATED TO THE QUEER AND TRANS COMMUNITY
STRAIGHT PEOPLE
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: These terms are used almost exclusively by the LGBTQ+ community.
异性恋男
yì xìng liàn nán
‘heterosexual male’
异男
yì nán
abbreviation for ‘heterosexual male’
异性恋女
yì xìng liàn nǚ
‘heterosexual female’
异女
yì nǚ
abbreviation for ‘heterosexual female’
异性恋
yì xìng liàn
‘heterosexual people’
GAY PEOPLE
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: ‘基佬’ is often used to tease people or used derogatorily, while ‘百合’ is often romanticized by heterosexual male. The LGBTQ+ community sometimes uses these terms for the purpose of self-mockery.
男同性恋
nán tóng xìng liàn
‘male homosexual’
男同
nán tóng
abbreviation for ‘gay/homosexual male’
基佬
jī lǎo
‘gay guy’ (slang)
搞基
gǎo jī
the action of being gay (v.)
女同性恋
nǚ tóng xìng liàn
‘female homosexual’
女同
nǚ tóng
abbreviation for ‘lesbian/homosexual female’
百合
bǎi hé
‘lesbians’ (slang)
lit. ‘lily plant’
搞百合
gǎo bǎi hé
the action of being lesbian (v.)
同性恋
tóng xìng liàn
‘homosexual’
同志
tóng zhì
‘homosexual’
同性伴侣
tóng xìng bàn lǚ
‘homosexual couple’
OTHER SEXUALITIES
Notes: Terms for sexualities are very limited in Mandarin Chinese, most sexualities do not have Chinese translations.
NEUTRAL
双性恋
shuāng xìng liàn
‘bisexual’
无性恋
wú xìng liàn
'asexual'
泛性恋
fàn xìng liàn
'pansexual'
TRANS and INTERSEX PEOPLE
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTRAL
Notes: People outside of the LGBTQ+ community almost never use these terms in informal settings or on the internet. Instead, they use the more derogatory terms in the following sections.
女跨男
nǚ kuà nán
‘trans man’
lit. woman.step-across.man
男跨女
nán kuà nǚ
‘trans woman’
lit. man.step-across.woman
跨性别者
kuà xìng bié zhě
‘transgender people’
变性者
biàn xìng zhě
‘transgender people’
双性人
shuāng xìng rén
‘intersex’
SLANG AND INSULTS USED TO REFER TO TRANS AND GENDER-NONCONFORMING PEOPLE
Notes: All of these terms are quite derogatory and are frequently used by cisgender people to ridicule people that present themselves differently from the traditional gender roles of their biological sexes.
There are no known slangs for trans men because trans men who are assigned female at birth or women in general are extremely underrepresented in Chinese-speaking LGBTQ+ communities.
‘女汉子’ is now also used and taken as a compliment because people think that women that have more “masculine traits” (e.g. being brave, independent, hard-working, and successful) are better than those who behave like “traditional women.”
‘伪娘’, ‘人妖’ and ‘女汉子’ are frequently used to refer to people that are not even transgender, but are just not manly or feminine enough.
伪娘
wěi niáng
‘trans woman’ (slang)
lit. ‘fake woman’
人妖
rén yāo
‘lady boy/trans woman’ (slang)
lit. ‘human.monster’ or ’human.evil alluring woman’
男人婆
nán rén pó
‘manly female’ (slang)
lit. ‘man woman’
does not refer to trans women—no slang term for trans women seems to exist
女汉子
nǚ hàn zi
‘manly female’ (slang)
变性人
biàn xìng rén
‘transgender people’ (slang)
不男不女的
bù nán bù nǚ de
‘neither male or female’ (adj., insult)
阴阳人
yīn yáng rén
‘intersex people’ (slang)
lit. ‘yin yang people’
GENDER-MARKED RADICALS IN WRITTEN CHINESE
In the Chinese writing system, characters are made up of phonetic radicals, which indicate the pronunciation of a character, and semantic radicals, which convey the meanings. There are two gender-marked semantic radicals in written Chinese, namely the female radical (‘女’) and the male radical (‘亻’). The meanings of the words with the female radical(‘女’) and the male radical(‘亻’) are extremely asymmetric. Studies have shown that nearly 90% of the characters that co-occur with the female radical(‘女’) are either derogatory or project harmful stereotypes towards women. In contrast, characters with the male radical(‘亻’) typically are semantically neutral or positive. This section will display partial orthographic minimal pairs with the female radical(‘女’) and the male radical(‘亻’) and words they are commonly used with.
WITH MALE RADICAL (‘亻’)
COMMON WORDS
WITH FEMALE RADICAL (‘女’)
COMMON WORDS
任
rèn
No direct translation
仅
jǐn
‘only’
仿
fǎng
‘to copy’
伎
jì
‘skill’
佼
jiǎo
‘handsome', 'beautiful'
傔
qiàn
‘attendant’
倡
chàng
‘to promote’, ‘to initiate’
俾
bǐ
‘to enable or cause’
任何
rèn hé
‘any’
责任
zé rèn
‘responsibility’
仅仅
jǐn jǐn
‘only’
仿佛
fǎng fú
‘as if’ or ‘similar to’
仿造
fǎng zào
‘counterfeit’, ‘copy’
伎俩
jì liǎng
‘trick’
佼佼者
jiǎo jiǎo zhě
‘a well-known/successful figure’
提倡
tí chàng
‘to promote or to advocate for’
倡导者
chàng dào zhě
‘pioneer’, ‘advocate’
俾使
bǐ shǐ
‘to cause or to result in’
妊
rèn
‘pregnant’
奴
nú
‘slave’
妨
fáng
‘to hinder’
妓
jì
‘prostitute’
姣
jiāo
‘pretty’, ‘cunning’
嫌
xián
‘to blame or dislike’(v.)
娼
chāng
‘prostitute’
婢
bì
‘maid,’ ‘servant girl or slave girl’
妊娠
rèn chén
‘pregnancy’
奴隶
nú lì
‘slave’
奴婢
'nú bì'
‘servant’
妨碍
fáng ài
‘hinder’
无妨
wú fáng
'might as well'
lit. no.problem(to do sth.)
妓女
jì nǚ
‘prostitute’
姣美
jiāo měi
‘beautiful in figure’
嫌弃
xián qì
‘to be disgusted (by something or someone)’
嫌犯
xián fàn
‘someone who breaks the law’
娼妓
chāng jì
‘prostitute’
婢女
bì nǚ
‘servant girl or slave girl (for a rich family)’
CITE THIS PAGE
APA 7
Bedin, C., Tang, C, & Yi, I. (2021). Mandarin Chinese. Gender in Language Project. www.genderinlanguage.com/mandarin