jan1姻
Jyutpingjan1
Yaleyān
Definition
Marriage, or a relative by marriage.
neutralfamily
How it's used
姻 is a bound morpheme that almost exclusively appears in formal or legalistic compound words related to marriage. Unlike the common word 結婚, which describes the act of getting married, 姻 focuses on the resulting kinship or the state of being connected by marriage. You will rarely hear it in casual conversation unless you are discussing family trees or formal social ties.
Examples
Their two families have formed a marriage-based relationship.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse 姻 with 婚. While 婚 refers to the wedding or the act of marrying, 姻 specifically highlights the extended family connections created by that marriage.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
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Classifier
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Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
