今儿个 (jīn ér gě) — (colloquial, Northern Mandarin) today

Definition

A casual, spoken-Chinese way to say 'today' (now also used south of the Yangtze, not only in the North). It's more colloquial than 今天, and pairs with suffixes like 晚上 to mean 'tonight'.

noun
(colloquial, Northern Mandarin) today

Examples

  • 今儿个，。
    jīn ér gě Tiān qì zhēn hǎo, zán men chū qù zǒu zǒu ba.
    The weather is really nice today — let's go out for a walk.
  • 今儿个？
    Nǐ jīn ér gě ér gè yǒu kòng ma?
    Are you free today?
  • 今儿个。
    jīn ér gě Ér gè wǎn shàng wǒ qǐng nǐ chī fàn.
    I'll treat you to dinner tonight.

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.

今儿today
今jīntoday儿ércolloquial ending
后缀Suffix
个gècolloquial ending

今 means today, while 儿 and 个 make the colloquial spoken form.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

One explanation sees the shape as an upside-down mouth with a line below it, giving the idea of not speaking.

Open 今 →

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 個; 个 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
固
固gù個ge
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 个, the form 個 pairs 亻 (person) with 固 as a sound part.

Open 个 →

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