ਭੈਣ

Bhen (ਭੈਣ), also spelled bhain, is the Punjabi word for a sister: a girl or woman who shares one or both parents with you. An elder sister is a vaddi bhen and a younger sister is a chhoti bhen, and with ji added the word becomes a respectful way to address older women too.

What does bhen mean in Punjabi?

Bhen is the general, everyday word for a sister, the female counterpart of bhra, the general word for a brother. It is a single syllable with a nasal ending, the sound trailing up into the nose the way pen would if it were hummed. Spelling varies in Roman letters: bhain follows the sound most closely, while bhen is the spelling many Punjabi families and learners use, and both point to the same word, ਭੈਣ.

Like most Punjabi family words, bhen does more than name a relation. Cousins are bhen too, with the link spelled out in front: a father's brother's daughter is a chacheri bhen, a mother's brother's daughter a mameri bhen, a father's sister's daughter a phupheri bhen and a mother's sister's daughter a moseri bhen. In a Punjabi home all of them are addressed simply as bhen, because in the speaker's own generation every girl and woman of the family is a sister first and a cousin second.

How do you address an elder sister in Punjabi?

An elder sister is addressed as bhen ji, the relation word with ji added for respect, and in many families simply as bhainji, one blended word that younger siblings grow up using. The respect is earned and real: an elder sister often acts as a second mother in the house, feeding, scolding, defending and advising the younger children. A younger sister is called bhen too, or by her name, and the warmth runs the other way: she is the one the whole house teases and protects at once.

Why do sisters hold a special place in a Punjabi family?

Because a bhen is often the family's emotional anchor. Sisters are the ones who keep siblings talking to each other, who remember every birthday and every slight, and who hold family gatherings together. A married sister's return to her parents' home, her peke, is an event the whole street notices, and her children, your bhanja and bhanji, hold a place in the house that no other relation quite matches. Brothers, for their part, grow up understanding that looking out for a bhen is not a favour but a duty.