Clear relationships. Grounded explanations.

A guide to common relationships, not an exhaustive dictionary for every family, dialect, or custom. Rule version: 1.0.

The path comes before the term

Each button refers to the previous person. “Mother → older brother → daughter” is your mother’s older brother’s daughter, not your own brother’s daughter. A finite set of explicit rules supplies terms. Uncovered paths keep their full description; plausible-sounding titles are never generated.

Family branch and age are separate questions

A father’s brother’s children are 堂 cousins. A father’s sister’s children and a mother’s siblings’ children are 表 cousins. A paternal connection or a shared surname alone does not establish 堂. The older/younger term depends on you and this cousin, never your parents’ age order. If birth order is unknown, including cousins of the same stated age, choose “Not sure.”

Some paths do not identify one person

“My father’s son” could be me or my brother. “My son’s mother” does not establish that this person is my wife. These paths are not forcibly simplified, and their diagram nodes do not assert distinct identities.

What the diagram means

Parents appear one generation above, children below, and siblings and spouses on the same level. Blue arrows follow the selected path. Dashed “Shared parents” nodes illustrate full-sibling structure, not two additional identified people. Identity-ambiguous paths use a path-only diagram. Missing language terms do not change the relationship structure; positions without short terms retain their full bilingual descriptions. Changing perspective recalculates the term from the other end.

Each language resolves independently

Mandarin and English use the same relationship facts independently. Unknown age may leave the Mandarin term conditional while English first cousin still applies. A valid short term may omit details, so retain the full description.

Scope and limits

• Simplified Chinese and English interfaces, common Mandarin relationship terms, and pinyin. English explains the relationship; it is not always a word-for-word equivalent.
• Parent/child edges mean biological parentage; siblings mean full siblings. This model does not infer step, adoptive, half-sibling, or blended-family terms.
• In-law short terms follow the checked traditional opposite-sex marriage usages in the current rules. Other family structures can retain their paths without asserting a universal short term.
• Coverage includes two generations of direct ancestors/descendants, parents’ siblings and their spouses, first cousins, siblings’ spouses and children, and selected common in-laws. Paths can have up to six steps; a displayable path does not guarantee a supported short term.
• Results describe common relationship terms. Face-to-face address may instead use a name, nickname, or family-specific term. Local and family conventions take precedence.

Relationship terms and direct address are separate

Relationship names and direct address are calculated and pronounced separately. Labels such as first cousin identify a relationship; they do not establish what to say when addressing someone. Direct address has separate, limited rules: English parent/grandparent forms and conditional first-name address; Mandarin parents, older siblings and older cousins; Korean parents, older siblings and cousins. Region, speaker and age conditions accompany suggestions. Other address cases remain explicitly uncovered.

Bilingual relationship terms and paths

English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and French can each be the primary or comparison language; every diagram node follows the selection. Korean currently covers basic relatives, grandparents, aunts and the general first-cousin category. Some uncle and in-law short terms are not covered. Arrow text is an explicit path, with each step relative to the previous person, not a conventional short title.

Male speakers use 형 / 누나 for older brothers / sisters; female speakers use 오빠 / 언니. Unknown gender retains conditional alternatives. 사촌 does not encode branch, gender or age order. Only kinship senses are used; friendly or honorific address does not establish blood relationships.

Japanese, Spanish and French

These packs cover immediate family, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and first cousins. Japanese avoids guessing age-dependent kanji for uncles and aunts. Spanish and French cousin terms follow the target person’s gender. Compound in-laws and uncovered paths retain a full description.

Relationship names and forms of address are separate: Japanese 父 and お父さん, French père and Papa, Spanish padre and papá. Family convention and personal preference take priority. Unchecked address forms are never inferred from a relationship name.

References

The rules were checked against these public references. The explanations and calculation logic are independently written.

• Ministry of Education Revised Mandarin Dictionary: kinship terms
• FamilySearch: Cousin Chart — Reference for the English relationship “first cousin.”

Found an issue? Keep the relationship path from the share link and note the expected term and region so the case can be checked.