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字儿 (zì ér) — Chinese character; written word; (colloquial) receipt; note; IOU

Definition

字儿 (zìér) is the colloquial diminutive of 字 — 'character' or short 'written word'. It also informally means a receipt or IOU, a sense its more formal counterpart 字 does not carry.

noun
Chinese characterwritten word(colloquial) receiptnoteIOU

Examples

  • 字儿，。
    Zhè ge zì ér xiě cuò le, yīng gāi shì yòu biān nà ge.
    This character is written wrong; it should be the one on the right.
  • 字儿，。
    Nǐ xiě gè zì ér gěi wǒ, wǒ àn zhè ge qù qǔ dōng xī.
    Write a receipt for me; I'll pick up the items with this.
  • 字儿。
    Tā kàn le yí biàn jiù bǎ nà ge zì ér jì zhù le.
    He remembered that character after reading it once.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

字zìcharacter
儿ércolloquial ending

字 means character, and 儿 gives a colloquial spoken form.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
子
子zǐ字zì
Same sound today

字 pairs 宀 (roof) with 子 (child); 子 gives the sound, while 宀 relates to the meaning.

Open 字 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 儿 is a simple drawing of a standing person, used as an alternate form of the character for person.

Open 儿 →
Appears in
Reading & Writing

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