Homework help - A Chinese Word

[mamamary]

My 9 year old needs to find out the meaning of aiyi. Apparently it is a Chinese word. It has to do with a story they are reading in school. I can't seem to figure out how to look it up.

I asked DD how are we supposed to look it up. She said the teacher said that maybe you can call a Chinese restaurant and ask. Ummm - I don't think so.

So anyone know what it means or can help me figure out where to look. I googled it but didn't find anything.

TIA

 

[Diva of Dragons]

What is the story?

 

[mamamary]

What is the story?

It's called: Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat

 

[MushyMushy]

What's are the context clues surrounding the word?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I looked up the word on all the translator sites and came up with nothing.

 

[mamamary]

What's are the context clues surrounding the word?

It's a book they have in school. I tried asking my daughter to describe how it was in the story but I didn't get anywhere with her.

It's one of those assignments that won't be graded or anything so it really isn't a big deal. I'm just curious now about it. Plus I'd like to show her how to go about finding it but as you can see I can't.

 

[mamamary]

I looked up the word on all the translator sites and came up with nothing.

Thanks for trying.

 

[TinkPinkPoem]

OP, could it be spelled differently?

It says: Did you mean: aiai, ai, aiya, aiyo, ayi, aihui, aihu, aie, aihe, aiyue ?

 

[mamamary]

OP, could it be spelled differently?

It says: Did you mean: aiai, ai, aiya, aiyo, ayi, aihui, aihu, aie, aihe, aiyue ?

I just asked DD again and she said it was definately spelled out as aiyi.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Okay- I found something and I think it means Grandmother.

 

[mrsv98]

Here is an excerpt from Amazon that has the word on the page. It looks like a colloquilism meaning "good grief" or "shoo".

The grandmother is chasing people away from her door when she says it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0517885492/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link

 

[NotUrsula]

I just asked a couple of my Chinese co-workers. They say it means "maid" as in household help. Apparently it literally means "Auntie" but is normally used to mean a maid, especially one who helps with children.

PS: Out of curiousity I went back and asked about the "oh, my" possibility. They laughed and said that yes, that could be it, too. They tried to tell me the difference in the way that the two words are pronounced, but I'm afraid it was too subtle for my American ears.

In nearly 4 years here, I've learned one thing about Chinese -- that subtle shifts in pronunciation apparently can make a WORLD of difference.

 

[mamamary]

Here is an excerpt from Amazon that has the word on the page. It looks like a colloquilism meaning "good grief" or "shoo".

The grandmother is chasing people away from her door when she says it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0517885492/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link

Very cool that you found the word in the story. It does seem that it means sort of like "good grief" or something. Oh now I see where they are also talking about servants so maybe it is maid.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!!

 

[beattyfamily]

I lived in China for 6 years. I don't remember a whole lot but some words are engrained in my brain. One word for when you are upset or surprised is "Aiya". Similar to "oh my" or "wow" or "jeeze" etc...

Where I lived they spoke Cantonese though and maybe the OP's version is Mandarin.

 

[mamamary]

I just asked a couple of my Chinese co-workers. They say it means "maid" as in household help. Apparently it literally means "Auntie" but is normally used to mean a maid, especially one who helps with children.

They are talking about servants on the page where the word is used.

 

[mamamary]

I lived in China for 6 years. I don't remember a whole lot but some words are engrained in my brain. One word for when you are upset or surprised is "Aiya". Similar to "oh my" or "wow" or "jeeze" etc...

Where I lived they spoke Cantonese though and maybe the OP's version is Mandarin.

Well it definately seems to be narrowed down to an "oh my" or a maid.


I APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP

 

[TinkPinkPoem]

Well it definately seems to be narrowed down to an "oh my" or a maid.


I APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP

Do you know what happens next in the story?

Does a maid make its appearance or is even mentioned?

If not, I'd go with "oh my".

 

[Pixiedust34]

I would probably take it as being "My! My! My!" But I'm no expert. Our kids are reading a Chinese related book for school right now, too. We're doing Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. It's an excellent book! Every now and then we have to guess the meaning of a word, too.

 

[mamamary]

Do you know what happens next in the story?

Does a maid make its appearance or is even mentioned?

If not, I'd go with "oh my".

No I don't know what happens next. But when I mentioned the two choices to my daughter she seems to think it's the "oh my" as opposed to the maid. So I think we have a winner.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Mommy2three]

we have a chinese exchange student, I will ask her when she gets home from school this afternoon