Terms of endearment in Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese words that used with partners, children and other loved ones.

Terms of endearment

我的爱人 [我的愛人] (wǒ de àirén) = my love (only for romantic partners)
我的宝贝 [我的寶貝] (wǒ de bǎobèi) = my treasure (mostly for romantic partners)
我的心肝 (wǒ de xīngān) = my heart (mostly for romantic partners, also for your own children)
亲爱的 [親愛的] (qīn'ài de) = (my) darling (for romantic partners and your own children - said to males)
我的女孩 (wǒ de nǚhái) = my girl, my chick (for romantic partners and your own daughter)
我的天使 (wǒ de tiānshǐ) = my angel, my chick (for romantic partners and your own children)
甜心 (tiánxīn) = sweetheart

Terms of endearment for girls and women

小猪猪 [小豬豬] (xiǎo zhū zhū) = little piggy (for cute girlfriends)
老婆 (lǎopó) = wife (used by husbands to their wives)
娘子 (niángzǐ) = wife (old fashioned word for wives)

Terms of endearment for boys and men

老公 (lǎogōng) = wife (used by wives to their husbands)
相公 (xiànggong) = husband (old fashioned word for husbands)

Terms of endearment for both males and females

小笨蛋 (xiǎo bèndàn) = little idiot (used for lovers)
小坏蛋 (xiǎo huàidàn) = little villain (used for lovers)
乖乖 (guāiguāi) = darling, dear; well-behaved, nice, obedient (used for romantic partners, usually females)
那口子 (nà kǒuzi) = my wife / husband / better half (“that mouth”)

Provided by Helen Dan (张丹)

Terms of endearment

Chinese (Mandarin), Cornish, Danish, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Kadazandusun, Manx, Polish, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh

Multilingual pages

[top]

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways.

If you find all the adverts annoying, there is now an Ad-free version of Omniglot which you can access for a small monthly or annual donation.

[top]