婿

壻

xù

女 + 胥

Definitions

xù (noun) son-in-law

Etymology phono-semantic

woman

Semantic: 女 Phonetic: 胥

About

The character 婿 (xù) is a phono-semantic compound denoting a son-in-law or husband. On the left, the female radical 女 (nǚ) establishes the semantic category of women, marriage, and family structures. On the right, the component 胥 (xū), which means 'subordinate' or 'clerk', functions exclusively as a phonetic marker indicating the pronunciation without contributing to the meaning. The core meaning refers to the male partner in a marriage from the wife's parents' perspective, and it frequently appears in compound words that designate a daughter's husband or a man who marries into a family, highlighting social ties in the traditional kinship system.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他是我的女婿。

Tā shì wǒ de nǚxu.

He is my son-in-law.

我的女婿很孝顺。

Wǒ de nǚxu hěn xiàoshun.

My son-in-law is very filial.

她女儿嫁给了一个好女婿。

Tā nǚ'ér jià gěile yī gè hǎo nǚxu.

Her daughter married a good son-in-law.

这位女婿在公司工作很努力。

Zhè wèi nǚxu zài gōngsī gōngzuò hěn nǔlì.

This son-in-law works very hard at the company.

父母对女婿的表现非常满意。

Fùmǔ duì nǚxu de biǎoxiàn fēicháng mǎnyì.

The parents are very satisfied with the son-in-law's performance.

虽然他是新女婿，但很快就融入了家庭。

Suīrán tā shì xīn nǚxu, dàn hěn kuài jiù róngrùle jiātíng.

Although he is a new son-in-law, he quickly integrated into the family.

在选择女婿时，他们考虑了多个因素。

Zài xuǎnzé nǚxu shí, tāmen kǎolǜle duō gè yīnsù.

When choosing a son-in-law, they considered multiple factors.

由于女婿的杰出贡献，家族企业得以蓬勃发展。

Yóuyú nǚxu de jiéchū gòngxiàn, jiāzú qǐyè déyǐ péngbó fāzhǎn.

Due to the son-in-law's outstanding contributions, the family business has flourished.

Related Characters

Component: 女

Component: 胥

婿