(diē) - dad, father (colloquial and old-fashioned) in Mandarin
diēTraditional: 爹
Translation
dad, father (colloquial and old-fashioned)
Word origin
A phono-semantic compound built on 父 (father) with 多 (duō) supplying the sound.
- Origin
- phono-semantic compound
- Root
- 父 (father, semantic) + 多 (duō, phonetic)
Stroke order
爹
Examples
。
My dad turns seventy this year.
。
His father is an honest man.
。
The child cried and went looking for his dad.
。
Both my parents are still back in the old village.
村。
People in the village still say it the old way.
爹 (diē) means dad. It is the older, plainer word for a father, and it survives mostly in rural speech, in historical drama, and in the fixed pairing 爹娘 for one's parents.
In modern city Mandarin the ordinary word is 爸爸, with 父亲 as the formal written option. Reaching for 爹 in a Beijing office will sound either rustic or theatrical, which is sometimes exactly the effect a speaker wants.
The trap for an English speaker is assuming 爹 and 爸 are freely swappable the way dad and father almost are. They are not: 爹 is marked. Read it, understand it in subtitles, but say 爸爸.
Where this fits
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爹: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "爹" (dad, father (colloquial and old-fashioned)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 51.