哪

né / nǎ / na
proper noun #162

Meanings

  1. 1 transliteration syllable used only in Nezha

Examples

HSK 7-9
Nézhā shì Zhōngguó shénhuà lǐ shēnshòu xǐ'ài de rénwù.
Nezha is a beloved figure in Chinese mythology.
HSK 7-9
2019 nián de diànyǐng 《 Nézhā 》 dǎpò le piàofáng jìlù.
The 2019 film Ne Zha broke box office records.

Tips

usage
This reading is locked to one word - 哪吒, the boy deity. Nowhere else. The syllable né here is a transliteration choice (the name traces back to a Sanskrit source, Nalakuvara, shortened over centuries), so 哪 was repurposed purely for its sound. If you see 哪 anywhere outside the name 哪吒, it's the question word nǎ, not né.
culture
Nezha is a rebellious child-deity from 封神演义 and 西游记 - wind-fire wheels, fire-tipped spear, the cosmic ring 乾坤圈. The 2019 animated blockbuster 哪吒之魔童降世 made him a pop-culture flagship of the 国漫 (Chinese animation) revival.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
Left indexing mouth radical 口 (Kangxi #30). Marks 哪 as a spoken word - a question particle that comes out of the mouth rather than naming a thing. Same radical anchors all the interrogative and exclamatory chars: 吗, 呢, 啊, 嗯, 哎.
phonetic
那 nà
that
Right component supplies the sound: 那 (nà) → nǎ (just a tone shift). Adds a tight semantic flavour too: 那 means 'that, over there,' so 口 + 那 reads as 'speaking the that-question' = 'which?' Same phonetic family with 娜, 挪, 呐.

Stroke Order

哪 né