儿 (ér) · child; son

Meanings

1 child; son
2 youth

Characters

儿

ér

child; son

Examples

HSK 1

她有一个女儿。

Tā yǒu yí gè nǚ'ér.

She has a daughter.

HSK 3

他们的儿子刚上小学。

Tāmen de érzi gāng shàng xiǎoxué.

Their son just started elementary school.

HSK 4

儿童节是六月一号。

Értóng Jié shì liùyuè yī hào.

Children's Day is on June 1.

Tips

usage

The 儿 ér reading is the bound 'child / son' sense: 儿子 (son), 女儿 (daughter), 儿童 (children), 婴儿 (infant). It does NOT stand alone in modern Mandarin - always inside a compound.

mistakes

儿 has two readings: ér (child / son, full syllable) and r (toneless suffix attached to the previous syllable, 花儿, 玩儿). Tag every occurrence with its reading - they're not interchangeable.

Components

pictograph

儿 ér

child; legs

Self-component pictograph - the bent-leg silhouette of a small child, oracle-bone form of a kneeling figure with an open fontanelle at the top. As Kangxi radical #10 it indexes characters built on a wide-legged base: 元, 兄, 先, 光, 兔. In simplified Chinese it also absorbs traditional 兒, giving it a second life as the toneless erhua suffix.

Radical

Legs Kangxi #10

The 儿 radical, drawn as bent legs and historically a child or person glyph. Indexes characters built on a wide-legged base: 元, 兄, 光, 先, 兔, 兜. In simplified Chinese it also absorbs 兒, doubling as a productive ending in everyday vocabulary.