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Word file #014Here to stayFamily & teachers

What does gege mean?

哥哥gēge

Say itGUH-guhnoun (also a form of address)

Character by character
  1. 哥gēolder brother
  2. 哥geolder brother

The Mandarin word for “older brother,” also used as a warm way to address an older man who is not family, including a male star by his fans.

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

Gege is the Mandarin word for “older brother.” Chinese speakers also use it as a warm, friendly way to talk to an older guy who is not family, and fans use it for male stars. In English you meet it mostly in fan spaces: comments on Chinese dramas, BL series, idol fan pages, and novel translations. There it is usually left untranslated, as in “gege looked amazing in the new episode.” In stories, it is often what a younger character calls a big-brother figure.

English speakers usually say GUH-guh. In Mandarin it is 哥哥 gēge. The first syllable has a high, flat tone, and the second is short and light, with no tone of its own [1]. The vowel sounds like the “u” in “duh,” not like “gay.” The word is written the same way in simplified and traditional characters. It is friendly and kind, never rude. A young woman may also use it for her boyfriend, so in some situations it can sound sweet or flirty [1].

Word stats

Known in English
Fans of Chinese dramas and idols use it all the time. Most other English speakers have never heard it.
Said in China today
哥哥 is basic family vocabulary in China, and Chinese fans call their idols 哥哥 too.
Polite
Warm and kind. With a grown man you do not know well, though, it can sound sweeter than you planned.
Freshness
Steady: about as many people look it up as last year. Every new drama brings a new gege.

Spotted in the wild

Fan group chat · Friday, 11:40 pm
  1. AvaGEGE POSTED A SELFIE
  2. Youit’s almost midnight, why is he awake
  3. Avafilming. the new drama comes out next month
  4. Youok i’m saving it. for research

What it means here: Gege is the male actor the friends are fans of; they use the word like a nickname.

Comments under a drama clip
  1. Noorthe way she says 哥哥 and he drops everything to help her 😭
  2. Leohe’s not even her real brother and he’s the best gege in the whole show

What it means here: The younger character calls him 哥哥 (gēge, “older brother”), and fans use gege for a protective big-brother character.

Text with a friend · Sunday, 8:05 pm
  1. Youmy little cousin called my roommate gege at dinner. is that a big deal??
  2. Meino, it’s sweet. she’s saying he’s like a big brother to her
  3. Youoh good. he panicked and gave her his last dumpling
  4. Meihonestly that’s exactly what a gege does

What it means here: Here gege is a friendly way for a child to address an older guy who is not family.

How to use it

  • name + gegeIn the novel, the little girl always calls him Ming gege.
  • my gege (a fan’s favorite star)My gege finally has a new drama coming out.
  • call someone gegeShe called him gege in episode three, and the comments went wild.
  • Gege, … (talking to him directly)In the subtitles: “Gege, wait for me!”

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds off“GAY-gay”

    Say this“GUH-guh,” with the second syllable short and light

    The Mandarin “e” sounds close to the “u” in “duh,” and the second syllable is unstressed.

  • Sounds offGege means princess, right? I saw it in a palace drama.

    Say thisGege (哥哥) means older brother. The princess title is 格格 gégé.

    They look the same in English letters, but they are different words with different characters and tones.

  • Sounds offMy older sister is my gege.

    Say thisMy older sister is my jiejie (姐姐).

    Gege is only for men and boys. Older sisters and older women are 姐姐 jiějie.

  • Sounds offThanks for the report, gege! (to a male manager)

    Say thisThanks for the report, Mr. Zhang!

    Gege is warm and close. At work it can sound too cute, or even flirty.

gege or not?

Is each of these gege? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. A girl asks her older brother to help with her homework and calls him gege.

  2. A fan writes “gege looks so good in this scene” about her favorite male actor.

  3. A man introduces his little brother as his gege.

  4. A student calls her older female friend gege.

The gege family

  • 哥 gēThe one-syllable form of “older brother,” often used by men.Half the word, same brother. It sounds more casual.
  • 姐姐 jiějie“Older sister,” also a warm way to address an older woman.The sister of gege. Fans use it for female stars, too.
  • 小哥哥 xiǎogēgeNewer internet slang for a friendly young man about your age or a little older.Literally “little older brother.” He is both at once.

Where it came from

  1. Early ChineseThe character 哥 did not start as a family word. Its first meaning was probably “to sing” or “song” [2].
  2. Medieval Chinese哥 appears with the meaning “older brother.” It is a short form of 阿哥 āgē, a word borrowed from an Inner Asian language. One view, from the linguist Mei (2015), says the source was Xianbei *aqa, “elder brother” [2]. The linguist Alexander Vovin disagrees. He says the Xianbei word ended in -n, so 哥 cannot come straight from it, and he traces family words of the Tang period to Old Turkic instead [3].
  3. Tang dynasty (618–907)The new word becomes popular and slowly replaces the older word for older brother, 兄 xiōng [2].
  4. Today哥哥 is everyday Chinese, and English-speaking fans of Chinese dramas, novels, and idols use gege without translating it.

Gege in fan English vs. 哥哥 in Chinese

In Chinese, 哥哥 is first of all a family word. A Chinese–English dictionary gives three meanings: an older brother who shares one or both of your parents, an older male relative of your own generation (like an older cousin), and a loving word a young woman uses for her sweetheart [1]. In fan English, the word mostly points at a male star or a big-brother character.

PointFan English gegeChinese 哥哥
Main meaningA male star, or a big-brother character in a storyAn older brother in your family
Other usesAny older guy a fan admiresOlder cousins, older friends, kind older men, idols, a boyfriend
FeelingAdmiring, often playfulWarm and close; sweet or flirty only in some situations

The boyfriend meaning is why gege can sound flirty. But the word itself is not romantic. A little girl who says it to her brother just wants help with her shoes. The speaker and the situation decide the feeling.

Who says it matters too. Girls and women use 哥哥 warmly all the time. Many Chinese speakers notice that boys and men rarely say the full word, and use just 哥 gē instead, which feels more casual. Treat this as a common pattern, not a strict rule.

Gege is one of four basic sibling words, and each one also works as a friendly form of address:

  • 哥哥 gēge: older brother
  • 姐姐 jiějie: older sister
  • 弟弟 dìdi: younger brother
  • 妹妹 mèimei: younger sister

One warning for fans of palace dramas: 格格 gégé is a different word that English also writes as “gege.” It was a title for princesses and noble daughters in the Qing dynasty. It uses different characters, and both of its syllables have a rising tone. If the gege is wearing a long silk robe and a tall headdress, it is probably 格格.

Sources

  1. 哥哥 (gē ge) Definition & MeaningHanBook Chinese Dictionary
  2. 哥 - Wiktionary, the free dictionaryWiktionary
  3. Old Turkic Kinship Terms in Early Middle ChineseAlexander Vovin (PDF hosted by Türk Dil Kurumu)

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