源etymfun
About

Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

兒

ér
child
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 1
  • radical 儿
  • 8 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

Pictogram (象形): an infant with an imperfect cranium (i.e. fontanelle).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m/s-ŋa-j (“small; inferior; offspring”) (STEDT). Cognate with Burmese ငယ် (ngai, “little; young”), Jingpho shangai (ʃă³¹ ŋai³¹, “to give birth”).

According to Schuessler (2007), it may be an area word; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *ŋa(i)k (“baby”), Proto-Bahnaric *ŋaː (“baby”), Khmer ង៉ា (ngaa, “infant; baby”). The word is also cognate with 倪 (OC *ŋeː, “small and weak”). 伢 is the southern dialectal form of 兒 (MC nye, “child; son”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*m/s-ŋa-j “small; inferior; offspring”

Related: Burmese ငယ်, Jingpho shangai, Proto-Mon-Khmer *ŋa(i)k, Proto-Bahnaric *ŋaː, Khmer ង៉ា

Words built on it: 兒子, 女兒, 哪兒, 這兒

Meanings

character
  1. child
  2. one's own child; son
  3. (male) adolescent
  4. male
  5. Non-syllabic noun diminutive suffix.
  6. Suffix after nouns that does not indicate diminutiveness.

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

兒：孺子也。从儿，象小兒頭囟未合。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 詞綴。附於名詞、代名詞、形容詞、副詞等之後，與所附的詞合為兒化音，大多無意義。 例：花兒、這兒、快快兒

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 兒 was written 字形演變

  1. 兒 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 兒 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 兒 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 兒 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 兒 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 兒 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 兒