婆 pó old woman
old woman; grandmother
How to remember 婆: 波 waves + 女 woman = old woman. Every morning the waves roll up to the feet of the same woman, a cheerful old woman who swims in the sea all year.
Component breakdown
婆 = 波 waves + 女 woman
- 波 waves
- 女 woman
Every morning the waves roll up to the feet of the same woman, a cheerful old woman who swims in the sea all year.
How it is used
- 婆婆 (pópo) refers to a husband's mother - mother-in-law - an important term given traditional in-law dynamics.
- 外婆 (wàipó) - maternal grandmother - is the standard term in southern China and Taiwan, contrasting with northern 姥姥.
- 老婆 (lǎopo) is the casual, everyday word a husband uses for "my wife", warmer than the formal 妻子.
- The character on its own simply means "old woman", but it almost always appears bound in these kinship terms.