兄ちゃん

Japanese

Etymology 1
Kanji in this term
兄
にい
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Of 兄 (nii, “older brother”) +‎ ちゃん (-chan), a childish variant of the honorific -さん.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [ɲ̟iːt͡ɕã̠ɴ]

Noun

兄(にい)ちゃん • (nī-chan) 

  1. (familiar, term of address) (one's own) elder brother
    ねぇ、兄(にい)ちゃん、聞(き)いて
    nē, nīchan, kīte
    oh, bubby, listen to me
  2. (familiar or informal) boy; lad; chap
    • 1991 March 15, Rumiko Takahashi, “ＰＡＲＴ(パート).10(じゅう)　そして拳(けん)印(いん)は消(き)えた [Part 10: The Mark’s Finally Gone]”, in らんま½ (らんま½) [Ranma ½], volume 14 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 162:
      よっ　ええぞ　にいちゃん。
      Yo' ē zo nī-chan.
      Woo, you damn fine, boy.

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
兄
あに > あん
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Of 兄 (ani, “older brother”) +‎ ちゃん (-chan), with sound shift from ani to an.[2]

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) あ​んちゃん [áꜜǹchàǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • IPA(key): [ã̠ɲ̟t͡ɕã̠ɴ]

Noun

兄(あん)ちゃん • (anchan) 

  1. (familiar, informal, term of address) (one's own) older brother
  2. (familiar, informal) a young man, boy, lad
    近所(きんじょ)の兄(あん)ちゃん
    kinjo no anchan
    young fellow from the neighborhood
  3. (informal) a playboy, a libertine young man
  4. (regional, Chita peninsula, Aichi Prefecture) son; eldest son[1]
  5. (regional, Sado island, Niigata Prefecture) (one's own) husband[1]

See also

References
  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2004. “兄ちゃん” in Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, fifth edition. Tokyo: Kenkyūsha.
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