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Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC 
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC 
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC 
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC 
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC 
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD 
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD 
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD 
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD Regular Modern
Removed one theory. The third theory I looked up, it's dictionary is not reliable.
Changed fields: hint, customSources
Origin unclear. Various theories include a spiked weapon adorned with decorative feathers or clothes being embroidered on a loom.
Character Evolution
Historical Pronunciations
| Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter-Sagart | nejX | nˤ[ə][r]ʔ | numerous |
| nyeX | n[ə][r]ʔ | (adv. suffix) | |
| nyeX | n[ə][r]ʔ | you(r) |
說文解字
《說文》：“爾，麗爾，猶靡麗也。从冂，从，其孔；尒聲。此與爽同意。”
Sources
- Character origin
- 季旭昇《說文新證》p.259Chinese Language Stack ExchangeAlex Adler, The World of Kanji p.312
- Readings & variants
- Unicode
- Historical pronunciations
- Baxter-Sagart
- Historical images
- Academia Sinica
- Etymology
- Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)