Meaning of 夫妻
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- husband and wife; married couple
How to use 夫妻
夫妻 is a neutral, slightly formal word for a married couple, common in news, forms and everyday speech. It often appears as 夫妻俩 (fūqī liǎ) for "the couple". Example: 他们是一对年轻夫妻。(Tāmen shì yí duì niánqīng fūqī.) They are a young married couple.
夫 (fū) looks like 大 (big man) with an extra line across the top, like a hairpin worn by a grown man, so it means husband. 妻 (qī) has 女 (woman) at the bottom, so it means wife, and together 夫妻 is husband and wife.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 夫 (fū) with 天 (tiān), but in 夫 the vertical stroke pokes through the top line, while 天 has its two lines on top of 人. Also, 妻子 is usually read qīzi and means "wife" in modern Chinese, so do not use 妻子 when you mean the couple.
夫妻 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
夫 fū · man · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
妻 qī · wife · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 夫妻.
| 功夫 | gōngfu | skill; art |
| 大夫 | dàifu | senior official (in imperial China) |
| 工夫 | gōngfu | (old) laborer |
| 夫人 | fūrén | lady; madam |
| 妻子 | qīzi | wife and children |
| 丈夫 | zhàngfu | husband |
| 夫妇 | fūfù | a (married) couple; husband and wife |
| 高尔夫球 | gāo'ěrfūqiú | golf; golf ball |
| 下功夫 | xià gōngfu | variant of 下工夫[xia4 gong1 fu5] |
| 懦夫 | nuòfū | coward |
| 未婚夫 | wèihūnfū | fiancé |
| 未婚妻 | wèihūnqī | fiancée |
Questions about 夫妻
What does 夫妻 mean?
夫妻 (fūqī) means "husband and wife; married couple" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 夫妻?
夫妻 is made of 2 characters: 夫 (4 strokes), 妻 (8 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 夫妻 an HSK word?
Yes. 夫妻 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What measure word goes with 夫妻?
Use 对 (duì), as in 一对夫妻 (yí duì fūqī), a married couple. You can also say 夫妻俩 (fūqī liǎ) to mean the two of them.
What is the difference between 夫妻 and 夫妇?
Both mean husband and wife. 夫妇 (fūfù) sounds more formal and is often used after names, as in 王先生夫妇 (Wáng xiānsheng fūfù), Mr. and Mrs. Wang, while 夫妻 is more common in daily speech.