爾
ěr

you

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rejected by Prismcool · Jul 28, 2023, 11:02 PM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Aug 15, 2023, 10:32 PM

Added in possible explanation theories for this character.

Review: Third theory is likely wrong

Changed fields: hint, customSources

Origin unclear. Various theories include (1) a spiked weapon adorned with decorative feathers, (2) clothes being embroidered on a loom, or (3) a silkworm spitting out silk to make cocoons.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnejXnˤ[ə][r]ʔ numerous
nyeXn[ə][r]ʔ (adv. suffix)
nyeXn[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 Stack ExchangeAlex Adler, The World of Kanji p.312谷衍奎 《汉字源流字典》p.130-131
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)