奶奶
nǎinai · HSK 1
grandma
👵 奶 (milk) doubled = 奶奶, the milk-giving elder: paternal grandma
奶 means milk or breast; reduplicating it gives the familiar address for father's mother. The doubling pattern is common in Chinese family terms (爸爸, 妈妈, 哥哥). Distinct from 外婆/姥姥, which is mother's mother.
奶 — 女 (woman) + 乃 (phonetic)
奶 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 女 'woman' gives the meaning, linking the character to mothers and nursing, while the right side 乃 supplies the sound. It originally referred to breasts and breast milk, and later extended to milk in general and to terms for grandmother (奶奶).
奶 — 女 (woman) + 乃 (phonetic)
奶 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 女 'woman' gives the meaning, linking the character to mothers and nursing, while the right side 乃 supplies the sound. It originally referred to breasts and breast milk, and later extended to milk in general and to terms for grandmother (奶奶).