Meaning
thus; so; like that; you; thou
Chinese: 你、如此，也常见于音译名。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “er” becomes a different word in each tone. 尔 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 偶尔ǒu ěroccasionally; once in a while; sometimes
- 高尔夫球gāo ěr fū qiúgolf; golf ball
- 尔来ěr lái(literary) recently; lately; hitherto
- 尔后ěr hòuhenceforth; thereafter; subsequently
- 尔等ěr děng(literary) you (plural)
More Words
Example Sentence
我偶尔会去那家餐厅吃饭。Wǒ ǒu ěr huì qù nà jiā cān tīng chī fàn.I occasionally go to that restaurant to eat.
我WǒI偶尔ǒu ěroccasionally会huìcan去qùto go那nàthat家jiāhome餐厅cān tīngdining hall吃饭chī fànto have a meal。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Simplified from 爾. In classical Chinese it means ‘you; thus, like that; that’ (尔后). Today it mostly transliterates foreign sounds (尔 in 巴尔, 偶尔).
A way to remember it
A literary ‘you / thus’; and the ‘-r/-l’ sound in transliterations.