(): mud, clay, paste

() is a Chinese character meaning “mud.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1490 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. mud
  2. clay
  3. paste

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵尼 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounshuǐ nícement6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
ní tǔearth
ní ba(coll.) mud
tǔ dòu nímashed potato
ní jiāngslurry
ní tánquagmire
làn nímud
yū nísilt
jū nìto be a stickler for formalities
ní zhǎoswamp
ní nìngmuddy
dǎng ní bǎn(car, bicycle etc) fender
ní tànpeat
ní shí liúlandslide
tuō ní dài shuǐ(idiom) muddy and wet
ní qiuloach
99
Total compounds
46
As first character
35
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 99 compound words: 46 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 18 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.6537,440 co-occurrences
nìng
0.6411,566 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.5222,484 co-occurrences
tàn
0.5034,050 co-occurrences
shuǐ
0.49449,967 co-occurrences
zhǎo
0.4894,182 co-occurrences
shā
0.48320,412 co-occurrences
jīn
0.4752,328 co-occurrences
0.4735,790 co-occurrences
lào
0.471654 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

gāng gǔ shuǐ níHSK 6+

reinforced concrete

phrase
làn zuì rú níHSK 6+

(idiom) to be dead drunk; to be plastered

phrase
nì gǔ bù huàHSK 6+

conservative and unable to adapt (idiom)

phrase
níniú-rùhǎiHSK 6+

gone forever and without a trace

phrase
ní shā jù xiàHSK 6+

mud and sand flow together (idiom); good and bad mingle

phrase
pàn ruò yún níHSK 7+

as different as heaven and earth (idiom); worlds apart

phrase
shānníqīngxièHSK 7+

landslide

noun
tuōnídàishuǐHSK 6+

to do something in a long-drawn or slovenly manner; to be indecisive or beat about the bush

phrase
yúnnízhībiéHSK 6+

starkly different, one being considerably better or higher in status than the other

phrase
鸿xuě ní hóng zhǎoHSK 7+

a goose's footprint in the snow; vestiges of the past (idiom); the fleeting nature of human life (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de ní miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The muddy surface glistened in the early morning light, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

Investing 香港Feb 2026

上峯水(000672.SZ)参股公司鑫华半导体...

shàng 峯 shuǐ ní ( 0 0 0 6 7 2 . S Z ) cān gǔ gōng sī 鑫 huá bàn dǎo tǐ . . .

Shangfeng Cement (000672.SZ) shares in Xinhua Semiconductor...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

全国人大代表沈昌健:土里育“金种” 田埂上传“农声”

quán guó rén dà dài biǎo 沈 chāng jiàn : ní tǔ lǐ yù jīn zhǒng tián 埂 shàng chuán nóng shēng

National People's Congress deputy Shen Changjian: Cultivating "golden seeds" in the soil and uploading "agricultural voices" on the ridges

StheadlineFeb 2026

大埔Tesla猛撼头车“甩辘” 司机弃车不顾而去

dà 埔 T e s l a měng hàn ní tóu chē shuǎi 辘 sī jī qì chē bù gù ér qù

Tai Po Tesla shook the mud truck and "threw the wheel" The driver abandoned the car and left without hesitation

EtnetFeb 2026

海螺水(00914)控股股东海螺集团将斥不高于...

hǎi luó shuǐ ní ( 0 0 9 1 4 ) kòng gǔ gǔ dōng hǎi luó jí tuán jiāng chì bù gāo yú . . .

Conch Cement (00914), the controlling shareholder of Conch Group, will be no higher than...

東方日報Feb 2026

大埔颂雅路Tesla撞路旁头车 司机踪杳

dà 埔 sòng yǎ lù T e s l a zhuàng lù páng ní tóu chē sī jī zōng 杳

Tesla crashed into roadside mud truck on Songga Road in Tai Po The driver was missing

Tatoeba

你能给我土豆吗?

Nǐ néng gěi wǒ tǔdòuní ma?

Could you pass me the mashed potato?

Tatoeba

会在数个小时内凝固。

Shuǐní huì zài shù gè xiǎoshí nèi nínggù.

The cement will set in a couple of hours.

Tatoeba

他从头到脚都是巴。

Tā cóngtóudàojiǎo dōu shì níbā.

He was covered in mud from head to foot.

Tatoeba

这辆车陷在里了。

Zhè liàng chē xiàn zài ní lǐ le.

The car got stuck in the mud.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 泥 (ní) mean in Chinese?
泥 (ní) primarily means "mud." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1490 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 泥 and 呢?
泥 (ní) and 呢 (ne) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 口 (same 尼 component).
How many strokes does 泥 have?
泥 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 泥?
The radical associated with 泥 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 泥?
泥 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 尼 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵尼 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 泥?
Common words with 泥 include: 水泥 (shuǐ ní, "cement"); 泥土 (ní tǔ, "earth"); 泥巴 (ní ba, "(coll.) mud"); 土豆泥 (tǔ dòu ní, "mashed potato"); 泥浆 (ní jiāng, "slurry"). There are over 99 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 泥 (ní)?
Several characters share the pronunciation ní: 尼 (Buddhist nun), 你 (you), 拟 (doubtful), 逆 (contrary), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 泥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 泥 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.