Take the 2-minute tour ×  Most Chinese people I know don't have
siblings. They refer to their cousin as "cousin brother /
sister".  Is this common?  If so, is this a modern change,
perhaps reflecting the one-child policy?  share|improve this
question What do they use for "cousin brother / sister"? –  fefe
May 16 '12 at 8:46 Can you give us the Chinese characters for
this? Having English approximations doesn't really help you get
a good answer. –  deutschZuid May 17 '12 at 2:13 No I can't, I'm
referring to situations where people have introduced family
members as "cousin brother" in English - I'm interested to know
if this concept exists in Chinese, as everything I hear it in
English I correct the speaker (to say cousin - no such thing as
cousin brother in English). –  Michael Robinson May 17 '12 at
2:40 In that case, they probably just don't realize that English
familial terms are not that specific. "Cousin brother" probably
resulted from a calque of Chinese 表哥 or 堂哥. –  Claw May 17 '12
at 3:00 They always pr