小孩儿 (xiǎo hái r) — child, kid | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

小孩儿 is the everyday, spoken word for 'child' — the erhua form of 小孩. Use 孩子 in writing; 儿童 is more formal, often for official or collective contexts.

noun

childkid

Measure word · 个

小孩儿。
Zhè ge xiǎo hái r hěn kě ài.
This child is very cute.
小孩儿？
Nà ge xiǎo hái r shì shuí?
Who is that child?
小孩儿。
Liǎng gè xiǎo hái r zài gōng yuán lǐ wán.
Two children are playing in the park.

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.

小孩child

偏正Modifier + head

小 “small” and 孩 “child” give child, with 儿 adding a familiar spoken flavor.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

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

子亥孩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

亥

Same sound today

In 孩, the left part 子 shows a child, while the right part 亥 supplies the sound.

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.

Appears in