Gender neutral term for family members who are all first born?

Question

Is there a gender neutral term for people who are first born in a family?

For example, if a mother, father, and older sibling are all the first born to their parents, is there a term that describes all of them?

A quick check translating "first born" to traditional Chinese using google shows 長女 and 長男, as well as 初生的 which I'm not clear about, but if I wanted to say that "other family members are all X's" and use the correct Chinese word for clarity and to avoid any ambiguity, is there a word or simple expression for this category of people within a family? Or even without being within one family?

I'm not sure if this should be asked separately or not, but if there happens to be a word or phrase for the only person in a family who is not first born, that would also be helpful.

Answer 1

Speaking from personal experience (as a 長孫 on my paternal side):

老大 would be the most common gender-neutral term used within the family. Very common.

長子 can refer to the one oldest child of brothers and sisters, but there is quite a lot of variation in use between families, and can refer to the "eldest son" or the "eldest child". To be clear, I'd often go with "長子長女" as a phrase.

A more neutral circumlocution would be 最大的 which is spans formal and informal, in-family and out-of-family use. It defaults to referring to age (not height / width!), but if you want to be specific, you can use 年紀最大的 with "age" included.

There isn't any two-syllable word for the youngest that my family uses, although 老小 and 老幺 I have now seen on searching the Internet. 最小的 is the usual gender-neutral way of expressing it.

Answer 2

there're terms for the "first-born-son" only. traditionally, females are not treated equally in a family.

so, the answer below is not gender neutral.

"嫡長子", "嫡子" or "宗子" - "first-born-son" of wife (the official one, not concubines)

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000044984

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000044987

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000140215

therefore, you might invent the term "嫡長女" as "first-born-daughter" :)

other male siblings in the family, including younger one of the same mother, or any male siblings of concubines, are called "庶子"

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&searchid=Z00000133626

have fun :)

Answer 3

You could just put: 最大的孩子 or just 大的（孩子）. IE:

他们家有三个孩子， 大的都有16岁了

他们家最大的孩子已经16岁了。

他们家最大的已经16岁了。

他们家大的已经有16岁了。

他们家大的孩子都有16岁了。