二 (èr) · two

Meanings

1 two

Characters

二

èr

two

Examples

HSK 1

二十块钱。

Èrshí kuài qián.

Twenty yuan.

HSK 2

他是第二名。

Tā shì dì'èr míng.

He came in second place.

HSK 2

我要二楼的房间。

Wǒ yào èr lóu de fángjiān.

I'd like a room on the second floor.

Tips

grammar

二 is used for counting, phone numbers, math, and ordinals (第二). 两 is used before measure words (两个). Both mean 'two' but are not interchangeable.

culture

二百五 ('250') is slang for a foolish or silly person. Avoid saying this number on its own in casual conversation.

Components

ideograph

二 èr

two

Two parallel horizontals - abstract symbol for 'two', built by extending the 一 'one' principle. The shorter stroke sits on top, the longer one below. 二 is itself a Kangxi radical (#7) and indexes characters that stack horizontals: 五 (five), 井 (well), 些 (some), 亏 (loss). Not decomposable.

Radical

Two Kangxi #7

The 二 radical: two parallel horizontal strokes. A small but visible Kangxi class covering characters that pair or stack horizontals (亏, 五, 井, 些). Low productivity in modern coinage, but a clean lookup slot for top-and-bottom horizontal forms.