How to Write 妗 (jìn) — Meaning “Aunt (wife of mother's brother)”

Picture a woman (女) holding a calendar that says '今' (today) because your aunt (wife of mother's brother) always visits today. Alternatively, think of the phrase 'Aunt is here now (今) as a woman (女).' This links the sound and meaning visually.

妗 has 7 strokes: first write the radical 女 as three strokes (撇点, 撇, 横), then the right part 今 as four strokes (撇, 捺, 点, 横折钩). A common mistake is to make the 今 part look like 令 (lìng) by adding an extra dot—be sure to write only one dot. Keep the left side narrow and the right side balanced.

妗 (jìn) contains 女 + 今 and specifically means 'wife of mother's brother.' 奴 (nú) uses 女 + 又 (hand) and means 'slave' or 'servant,' while 奶 (nǎi) has 女 + 乃 and means 'grandmother' or 'breast.' Visually, 妗 has a dot and hook in the right component, whereas 奴 has a hand shape and 奶 has a curved 乃.

妗 appears in family titles like 妗子 (jìn zi, wife of mother's brother) and 大妗 (dà jìn, eldest aunt of this type). It is especially common in northern Chinese dialects to distinguish the wife of a maternal uncle (舅舅) from other aunts. While not in HSK, you might hear it in conversations about extended family relationships.

Common words containing 妗 include: 妗子 (jìn zi) — Aunt (wife of mother's brother); 大妗 (dà jìn) — Eldest aunt (wife of mother's eldest brother); 小妗 (xiǎo jìn) — aunt (wife of mother's younger brother).