Family / Relationships
Chinese Relative Calculator: Family Titles and Reverse Relationships
Find Chinese family titles from a chain of relatives. Compare written and spoken usage, see what the other person calls you, or look up possible chains for a title.
Chinese Relative Calculator: Family Titles and Reverse Relationships: Uses a local typed relationship graph and explicit simplification rules. Covers immediate relatives, paternal and maternal cousins, common in-laws, grandparents' siblings and their spouses, siblings' grandchildren, and selected cousins one generation removed. Direct titles distinguish all third-generation lineages; at the fourth generation the paternal line has titles and mixed lines have explicit descriptions. Untabled chains are shown as descriptions with a notice. Age and identity uncertainty are retained. Runs 100% locally in your browser with zero server file uploads.
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Join relation words with 的. Use 兄弟 or 姐妹 when the sibling's age is unknown. Up to 12 steps.
What I call them
表兄
表弟
姑表
- Spoken usage表哥
- Spoken usage姑表哥
- Spoken usage姑表弟
What they call me
表兄
表弟
表姐
表妹
- Spoken usage表哥
- Spoken usage舅表哥
- Spoken usage舅表弟
- Spoken usage舅表姐
- Spoken usage舅表妹
Simplification assumes shared biological parents and children of the stated couple. Half, adoptive and remarried families can use different titles.
More than one person or title is possible. Age and identity are not inferred from the order of relatives.
Regional usage varies. Northern and southern labels describe common alternatives, not fixed boundaries. Follow your family's usage.
How are we related?
Possible paths in the title table are shown below. Select one to explore it; equivalent detours are omitted.
Chinese title tables
The title rules use the direct, collateral and in-law tables in 漢語親屬系統 (formerly commonly referenced as 中國親屬關係), including its cited historical references: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/漢語親屬系統 . Cousins one generation removed: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/表親 . Extended-family table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_kinship#Larger_extended_family_and_terminology . Historical relationship terms: 梁章钜《稱謂錄》卷三 https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/book/CADAL11201050/chapter/1lk0wdly4jigj and 卷八 https://www.shidianguji.com/zh/book/CADAL11201050/chapter/1lk0wdv52hp9u . The implementation is independently written and does not include a kinship library.
Dictionary cross-checks and regional usage
Taiwan Ministry of Education, Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, 親朋稱呼表: https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/appendix.jsp?ID=12&la=1 . Entries: 外祖母 https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=160585 ; 妯娌 https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=115839 ; 連襟 https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=64004 ; 親家公 https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=102842 . Regional labels describe alternatives, not rules for everyone in a region.
How to use it
- Choose your gender and tap relation buttons, or type a chain with words separated by 的.
- Read the written title, reverse title and labelled alternatives. Add an age hint for a sibling or cousin if known.
- Choose a Chinese title in the reverse lookup to see possible relationship chains.
Privacy & limitations
Your relationship chains stay in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
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Frequently asked questions
Why are there two titles?
Some titles depend on age or gender. A cousin's parent's age does not establish the cousin's age. Choose an age hint for the target sibling or cousin, or leave it unknown.
Why do spoken titles differ?
The first result uses written forms. Spoken and regional alternatives are labelled separately. Northern and southern usage varies by family and place.
How does simplification work?
It assumes shared biological parents and children of the stated couple. A father's wife is treated as the mother unless you mark the exact chain as a stepmother. Adoption, half-siblings and other remarriages need additional information.
Does it recognise every Chinese family title?
No. It covers the documented table and returns a relationship description when no single title is recorded. Reverse lookup lists the table's paths, not every equivalent detour. Traditional husband/wife rules are used; same-gender spouse chains are outside this table.
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