HSK 3.0 · LEVEL 1
奶奶
paternal grandmother; grandma; (informally) milk
Free Chinese vocabulary flashcard · HSK 1
Why does 奶奶 look like this?
The character 奶 (nǎi) consists of the radical 女 (nǚ, woman) on the left and 乃 (nǎi, a phonetic component that also suggests a curve) on the right. In ancient scripts, it depicted a woman nursing, which is why it relates to 'milk' and 'grandmother'. When you repeat it as '奶奶', it becomes the warm, informal name for your paternal grandmother!