É
noun #5,168

Meanings

  1. 1 Russia (short form)
  2. 2 Russian

Examples

HSK 1
Tā shì Éguó rén.
She is Russian.
HSK 2
Éyǔ hěn nán xué.
Russian is hard to learn.

Tips

usage
is the common abbreviation for 俄罗斯 (Russia). Used in compounds like 俄语 (Russian language), 俄国 (Russia/Russian state), 中俄 (Sino-Russian).

Components

radical
rén
person (left-side form)
Left person radical - the side-form of . Originally meant 'leaning person' (still in 俄顷 'in a moment, at a tilt of time'); the human radical carried that 'a person inclining' picture. The modern 'Russia' sense is a 19th-century phonetic loan that ignores the original meaning but kept the human radical by graphic accident.
phonetic
I; me
Right component supplies the sound: wǒ → É with vowel and tone shift. Pure phonetic role - the 'I' meaning of plays no part. Same phonetic in ó (oh), É (goose), 饿 È (hungry), É (moth) - a tight É-cluster. The country name 俄罗斯 is a Qing-dynasty transliteration of 'Россия,' shortened to plain in compounds (中俄, 苏俄).

Stroke Order

É