哈尼 (hāní): honey (term of endearment, loan…

Meanings

1 honey (term of endearment, loanword)
2 (also) the Hani ethnic group of Yunnan

Characters

哈

hā

(transliteration syllable)

尼

ní

(transliteration syllable)

Examples

哈尼，你今天想吃什么？

Hāní, nǐ jīntiān xiǎng chī shénme?

Honey, what would you like to eat today?

云南哈尼族的梯田世界闻名。

Yúnnán Hānízú de tītián shìjiè wénmíng.

The terraced fields of Yunnan's Hani people are world-famous.

Tips

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Two distinct uses sharing the same characters: (1) Internet/couple slang — direct loan from English 'honey.' Cute, used between partners online and in chat. (2) Ethnic group — 哈尼族 (Hānízú), the Hani people of southern Yunnan, famous for the Hani Rice Terraces (UNESCO World Heritage).

memory

If you've watched any modern Chinese romance drama or read couple chats online, you've seen 老公/老婆/宝贝/亲爱的/哈尼 thrown around. 哈尼 is the most playful and most foreign-flavored of the bunch.