wife
HSK level
妻子 is written with 11 strokes (妻: 8, 子: 3). The animation replays automatically.
妻子 (qīzi) is the standard word for 'wife.'
It is neutral and slightly more formal than the colloquial 老婆 (lǎopo), so you'll see 妻子 in news, on official forms, and in polite introductions: 这是我妻子 ('this is my wife'). The character 妻 already means 'wife' on its own; the 子 suffix makes it a two-syllable noun — common in modern Mandarin even though 子 is meaningless here. Two register notes for English speakers: first, men casually call their wife 老婆 with friends and family, the way English uses 'my wife' / 'the missus' — 妻子 in that context can sound stiff.
Second, 妻子 cannot mean 'Mrs. So-and-so'; for that, use 太太 (Mrs.) or 夫人 (Madam, very formal).
Note: Neutral and slightly formal — common in writing, news, and introductions. In casual speech, men more often say 老婆 (lǎopo, 'wife / missus') with friends and family, or 太太 (tàitai, 'Mrs. / wife') in polite contexts.
Character by character
Memory hook: 妻 already means wife; the 子 just makes it a comfortable two-syllable word, like adding -y or -er in English.
妻子 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
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Zhè shì wǒ de qīzi, jiào Wáng Hóng.
This is my wife. Her name is Wang Hong.
neutral
他的妻子是医生。
Tā de qīzi shì yīshēng.
His wife is a doctor.
neutral
我和妻子周末一起去看电影。
Wǒ hé qīzi zhōumò yìqǐ qù kàn diànyǐng.
My wife and I go to the movies together on weekends.
neutral
他爱他的妻子和孩子。
Tā ài tā de qīzi hé háizi.
He loves his wife and children.
written
Casual / colloquial 'wife.' Used among friends, family, and by husbands talking about their own wife. 妻子 is neutral-to-formal; 老婆 is the everyday spoken word.
Polite address: 'Mrs.' or 'wife.' Use 太太 in formal social contexts (王太太 'Mrs. Wang'). 妻子 names the relationship; 太太 names the person.
Very formal — 'Madam / lady.' Used for the wives of dignitaries or in highly respectful settings. Do not use 夫人 for your own wife.
妻 is the single-character form, mostly literary or in compounds (前妻 'ex-wife', 夫妻 'husband and wife'). In modern speech, use 妻子, not bare 妻.
子 by itself means 'son / child' (zǐ) but is just a light-tone noun suffix in 妻子. Don't read 妻子 as 'wife and son.'
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