国籍 guójí nationality
How to remember 国籍: 国 country + 籍 register = nationality.
Characters
How it is used
- A formal noun for legal nationality/citizenship - 你的国籍是什么 (nǐ de guójí shì shénme) what is your nationality, common on official forms.
- Different from 民族 (mínzú, ethnicity) - 国籍 is about which country's passport/citizenship you hold, not ethnic background.
- 籍 alone relates to registers/records (户籍 hùjí household registration), rarely standing alone in casual speech.
Example sentences
- 我有美国国籍。 Wǒ yǒu Měiguó guójí.I have American citizenship.