Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced er
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced er, including 而 ér, 二 èr, 儿 ér / er, 尔 ěr, 耳 ěr. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For er, there is nothing in front of the vowel — settle the er shape cleanly and ride the tone from start to finish.
Initial e
Start the syllable on the initial e, then run straight into the final r — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final r
Settle the final r into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (而 ér, 二 èr, 儿 ér / er, 尔 ěr, 耳 ěr) and lock in their tones. 5 common characters share the sound er, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
er turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 而, 儿 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 尔, 耳 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 二 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing er inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
5 common characters in this group.