Shixiong

In martial arts and xianxia stories, disciples who study under the same master or in the same sect treat each other like siblings, and seniority depends on who joined first, not on age. A male disciple senior to you is your shixiong. Subtitles usually translate it as "senior brother" or "senior martial brother."

The full family of terms:

• shixiong: senior brother
• shidi: junior brother
• shijie: senior sister
• shimei: junior sister

These sit under the master, addressed as shifu or, more reverently, shizun. Together they form a household with obligations that last a lifetime. A shixiong is expected to protect and guide his juniors, and juniors owe him respect.

That structure gives drama writers plenty to work with: protective senior brothers, rivalries over who the master favors, and romances between fellow disciples. In Eternal Love, the youngest disciple of a great master has a whole row of senior brothers, and their teasing loyalty is one of the show's warmer threads.

Like gege, shixiong can be combined with a name or number, such as "Second shixiong," and it can be affectionate. You'll hear these terms in jianghu stories too, wherever a martial arts school appears.