Chinese symbol for “grandma”
奶奶
nǎi nai
(informal) grandma (paternal grandmother); (respectful) mistress of the house; measure word: 位 (wèi); (coll.) boobies
The closest CC-CEDICT match for grandma is 奶奶 (nǎi nai), defined as: (informal) grandma (paternal grandmother); (respectful) mistress of the house; measure word: 位 (wèi); (coll.) boobies; breasts.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “grandma”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 阿妈 (阿媽) | ā mā | grandma (paternal) (Tw); (dialect) mother |
| 姥 | lǎo | grandma (maternal) |
| 婆婆 | pó po | husband's mother; mother-in-law |
| 阿嬷 (阿嬤) | ā mā | (Tw) grandma (also used to refer to or address an elderly woman) (from Taiwanese 阿媽, Tai-lo pr. [a-má]) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 奶奶.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 牛奶 | niú nǎi | cow's milk; measure word: 瓶 (píng), 杯 (bēi) |
| 奶粉 | nǎi fěn | powdered milk |
| 奶子 | nǎi zi | (coll.) milk; (coll.) breast |
| 奶油 | nǎi yóu | cream; butter |
| 老奶奶 | lǎo nǎi nai | (coll.) father's father's mother; paternal great-grandmother |
See also: Japanese symbol for “grandma”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.