你nǐ

你

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Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Modern simplified form (簡體). 你 (nǐ, "you") remains unchanged from its traditional counterpart, pairing the person radical 亻 with 尔, which itself once served as a second-person pronoun in classical Chinese. This combination creates a character literally meaning "a person like you," a humble form that gradually replaced the more formal 汝 during the Tang dynasty and became the standard modern address for "you."

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Shuowen

你. The character combines the human radical 亻 with 尔, which originally represented a second‑person pronoun. In oracle bone script the glyph shows a person with a mouth or speech element, indicating the addressee. The combination 亻 + 尔 became the standard pronoun “you”.

Pinyin

nǐ· HSK 1· Radical 人

你nǐ

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin