Chinese Character Wiki
爾

ěr

you

Pictograph of a sharp weapon with a sharp head and tail decorations on the end. Similar in origin to 朿. Original meaning unclear.

Evolution

爾 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
爾 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
爾 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
爾 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
爾 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

尔 (爾) 

ěr

you; that, those; final particle; thus; so; like that; thou

Most common words with 爾
Freq.
Word
Meaning

尔

thus

偶尔

occasionally

高尔夫

golf (loanword)

哈尔滨

Harbin, subprovincial city and capital of Heilongjiang province 黑龍江|黑龙江[Hēi​lóng​jiāng] in northeast China

比尔

Bill (name)

Component uses

Sound component in 4 characters (1 verified)

璽 彌 邇 禰

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*nˤ[ə][r]ʔ

nejX

ěr

numerous

*n[ə][r]ʔ

nyeX

ěr

(adv. suffix)

*n[ə][r]ʔ

nyeX

ěr

you(r)


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 60.7560% of movies

198th most common character in movies

220th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

14

Simplified

尔

Unicode

U+723E

Shuowen

“爾，麗爾，猶靡麗也。从冂，从，其孔；尒聲。此與爽同意。”
Sources

季旭昇《說文新證》p.259

董蓮池《說文解字考正》p.129

張亞初《商周古文字源流疏證》p.1931-1932



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