儿 (ér): child, son, non-syllabic diminutive suffix
儿 (ér) is a Chinese character meaning “child.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural) and 乚 (structural). It ranks #192 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 儿 simplified form of 兒, a picture of a child; compare 人. Its radical form 儿 (legs) appears in many related characters such as 元 (yuán, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)), 先 (xiān, beforehand), 克 (kè, abbr. for 克羅地亞|克罗地亚, Croatia).
Definitions
- child
- son
- non-syllabic diminutive suffix
Etymology & Origin
pictographicSimplified form of 兒, a picture of a child; compare 人
Decomposition: ⿰丿乚 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 儿 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 儿
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 这儿pronoun | zhè r | here | 1 |
| 哪儿pronoun | nǎ r | where? | 1 |
| 儿子noun | ér zi | son | 1 |
| 那儿pronoun | nà r | there | 1 |
| 女儿noun | nǚ ér | daughter | 1 |
| 一会儿numeral-measure/adverb | yī huì r | a moment | 2 |
| 有一点儿 | yǒu yī diǎn r | a bit | 1 |
| 面条儿noun | miàn tiáo r | erhua variant of 麵條|面条[mian4 tiao2] | 1 |
| 小孩儿noun | xiǎo hái r | erhua variant of 小孩[xiao3 hai2] | 2 |
| 女孩儿noun | nǚ hái r | erhua form of 女孩[nu : 3 hai2] | 2 |
| 男孩儿noun | nán hái r | erhua form of 男孩[nan2 hai2] | 2 |
| 婴儿noun | yīng ér | infant | 6 |
| 儿童noun | ér tóng | child | 4 |
| 一点儿numeral-measure | yī diǎn r | erhua variant of 一點|一点[yi1 dian3] | 1 |
| 聊天儿verb | liáo tiān r | erhua variant of 聊天[liao2 tian1] | 3 |
| 一块儿noun/adverb | yī kuài r | erhua variant of 一塊|一块[yi1 kuai4] | 3 |
| 大伙儿pronoun | dà huǒ r | erhua variant of 大伙[da4 huo3] | 6 |
| 幼儿园noun | yòu ér yuán | kindergarten | 5 |
| 儿科noun | ér kē | pediatrics | 6 |
| 好玩儿adjective | hǎo wán r | erhua variant of 好玩[hao3 wan2] | 1 |
| 儿女noun | ér nǚ | children | 5 |
| 模特儿noun | mó tè r | (fashion) model (loanword) | 6 |
| 小偷儿noun | xiǎo tōu r | erhua form of 小偷[xiao3 tou1] | 6 |
| 差一点儿 | chà yī diǎn r | erhua variant of 差一點|差一点[cha4 yi1 dian3] | 4 |
| 没法儿verb | méi fǎ r | (coll.) can't do anything about it | 5 |
| 少儿noun | shào ér | child | 6 |
| 干活儿verb | gàn huó r | erhua variant of 幹活|干活[gan4 huo2] | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 点儿 | diǎn r | erhua variant of 點|点[dian3] |
| 孩儿 | hái r | child |
| 活儿 | huó r | work |
| 孤儿 | gū ér | orphan |
| 劲儿 | jìn r | erhua variant of 勁|劲[jin4] |
| 花儿 | huā ér | style of folk song popular in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia |
| 儿时 | ér shí | childhood |
| 份儿 | fèn r | degree |
| 儿戏 | ér xì | child's play |
儿 appears in 100 compound words: 11 as the first character, 88 as the last, and 1 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 儿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (36)
valuable family property; private business; secrets; personal matters; privacy
Showing 12 of 36 idioms containing 儿.
Example Sentences
儿字由2笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
ér zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character "儿" consists of two strokes and has a very clever structure.
男生小便后甩一甩是本能行为吗?婴儿期就有类似反射吗
nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi shì běn néng háng wéi ma ? yīng ér qī jiù yǒu lèi sì fǎn shè ma
Is it instinctive for boys to shake after urinating? Is there a similar reflex in infancy?
...龄评论家拒绝断舍离 杂物堆家中一招堵住女儿嘴
. . . líng píng lùn jiā jù jué duàn shě lí zá wù duī jiā zhōng yī zhāo dǔ zhù nǚ ér zuǐ
... The old critic refused to break away from the pile of clutter at home and blocked his daughter's mouth
父亲睹儿子从阳台堕下 伸手成功接住
fù qīn dǔ ér zǐ cóng yáng tái duò xià shēn shǒu chéng gōng jiē zhù
The father saw his son fall from the balcony and reached out to catch it
鹿儿岛补助外国游客乘搭新干线引争议 知事:可...
lù ér dǎo bǔ zhù wài guó yóu kè chéng dā xīn gān xiàn yǐn zhēng yì zhī shì : kě . . .
Kagoshima subsidizes foreign tourists to take the Shinkansen and causes controversy Governor: Yes...
冬奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——宁忠岩家乡..
dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : wǒ ér zǐ shì guàn jūn ! — — nìng zhōng yán jiā xiāng . .
Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "My son is a champion!" ——Ning Zhongyan's hometown:
嗨！你在这儿工作吗？
Hāi! Nǐ zài zhèr gōngzuò ma?
Hi! Do you work here?
你知道音乐家什么时候来这儿吗？
Nǐ zhīdào yīnyuèjiā shénme shíhou lái zhèr ma?
Do you know when the musician will come here?
我们很快就到这儿了，不是吗？
Wǒmen hěn kuài jiù dào zhèr le, bù shì ma?
We arrived here fast, didn't we?
我能休息一会儿吗？
Wǒ néng xiūxi yīhuìr ma?
Can I rest a bit?
Character Family
儿 Radical Family — Characters sharing the legs radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 儿 (ér) mean in Chinese?
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What are common words containing 儿?
What characters sound the same as 儿 (ér)?
Is 儿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 儿 with real-time feedback
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