姪（めい、mei）
- niece

The Japanese word 姪 めい means "niece" in English. It refers to the daughter of one's sibling.

⚫︎私の姪 Translation: My niece ⚫︎姪が可愛いです。 Translation: My niece is cute. ⚫︎彼の姪はとても賢いです。 Translation: His niece is very smart.

This word is used when you are talking about your sibling's daughter or the daughter of your spouse's sibling. You can use it in various situations, such as describing family relationships, talking about a child you are fond of, or simply stating who someone is related to.

⚫︎The word is typically written as 姪 in kanji. ⚫︎The hiragana reading is めい. ⚫︎There are no other common ways to write this word. ⚫︎There are no variations in the okurigana.

There are no direct single-word synonyms for 姪 in Japanese. Instead, you would use phrases to describe a niece.

There is no direct antonym. However, the opposite of a niece would be a nephew 甥 (おい).

私の姪は今年10歳です。 ・Translation: My niece is 10 years old this year. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the age of the speaker's niece.

週末に姪と遊ぶ予定です。 ・Translation: I plan to play with my niece this weekend. ・Explanation: This sentence indicates that the speaker has plans to spend time with their niece.

The kanji 姪 is a combination of 女 (woman) and 疌 (a phonetic component). The exact etymology is not as widely discussed or easily traceable as some other words. The kanji represents the role of a female relative by blood.