兒

简 儿 · 繁 兒
Mandarin · pinyin ér#

Meanings · ér

  1. child
  2. son
Mandarin · pinyin r#

Meanings · r

  1. non-syllabic diminutive suffix
  2. retroflex final
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Characters in this entry

兒
ér · son, child, oneself; final part
儿
ér · son, child; Kangxi radical 10
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2 · er2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

兒 · find source passages ↗ · 儿 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ji4 · ngai4

Cantonese word readings for 兒. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. (now in compounds) child
  2. one's own child; son
  3. (now in compounds) (male) adolescent
  4. (attributive, of animals) male
  5. Non-syllabic noun diminutive suffix.
  6. Suffix after nouns that does not indicate diminutiveness.
  7. Suffix added to some verbs or adjectives to form nouns.
  8. Suffix after a limited number of verbs.
  9. Suffix after certain nouns that result in a different meaning from the unsuffixed form.
  10. Suffix after reduplicated adjectives.

character · Etymology 2

  1. a surname
  2. (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 齯 /𫠜 (ní, “teeth grown in old age”)
  3. (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 倪 (“small and weak”)
  4. (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 郳 (ní)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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