歸妹

1. Literal/Social: The act of a daughter or younger sister marrying into a husband's home.

2. Structural: A union characterized by positional asymmetry, often implying a subordinate status within the new domestic order.

3. Cyclical: The intersection of an ending (severing ties with the natal home) and a beginning (the initiation of a new domestic order).

Functions as either a verbal construction (to marry into a household; to be given in marriage) or a noun phrase describing the state of the union.

Distinct from generic "marriage" (婚 hūn). This term emphasizes directionality—the movement of the woman toward a new home—and the inherent asymmetry of her status within that structure.

In philosophical or divinatory contexts, the term often signals a mismatch between desire and social propriety. It suggests that success depends on "positional fit" (alignment with established order) rather than individual will; without such alignment, the union is viewed as precarious.