How to Say “My stepdad” in Chinese
Relationships and family · HSK 3
"My stepdad" in Chinese is 我的继父 (Wǒ de jìfù). 继父 (jìfù) mirrors 继母; it's the proper, written word for stepfather. In speech people say 后爸 (hòubà), though like 后妈 it can sound slightly cold because of dramatic TV portrayals.
Primary translation
我的继父
Wǒ de jìfù
Traditional: 我的繼父
Variants by register
Formal
我的继父
Wǒ de jìfù
Casual
我后爸
Wǒ hòubà
When to use it
继父 (jìfù) mirrors 继母; it's the proper, written word for stepfather. In speech people say 后爸 (hòubà), though like 后妈 it can sound slightly cold because of dramatic TV portrayals. Many Chinese kids avoid the label altogether and just call him 叔叔 (shūshu, 'uncle') if the relationship is distant, or 爸 (bà) if he raised them. Note the 继 character literally means 'to continue / succeed'; so linguistically a stepparent is the one who 'continues' the parenting role, which is actually a fairly warm concept if you look at the etymology.
Example sentences
我继父是工程师。
Wǒ jìfù shì gōngchéngshī.
My stepdad is an engineer.
我后爸把我当亲生的一样。
Wǒ hòubà bǎ wǒ dāng qīnshēng de yíyàng.
My stepdad treats me like his own biological child.
他不是我亲爸，是我继父。
Tā bú shì wǒ qīn bà, shì wǒ jìfù.
He's not my biological dad, he's my stepdad.