<p>On his blog SinoSplice the linguist John Pasden wrote an article about <a href="https://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2020/04/01/challenges-to-character-understanding" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Challenges to Character Understanding</a> where he explains the understanding of character <code>你</code> (nǐ).</p>

<p>He showed his source of <strong>Outliers Dictionary</strong> (add-on to the free app Pleco):
<img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49718829303_b2b58020d6_o.png" alt="Outliers Dictionary on Ni"> </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-01T08:25:40.583Z
2020-05-01T08:25:40.583Z
hc_dev
<p><em>Outlier</em></p>

<blockquote>
  <p><strong>FORM</strong><br>
  你 consists of 尔 (a shorthand form of 爾 “you”), and 亻 (person), indicating the original meaning “you.” 尔 also gives the sound.<br>
  [Reference, p. 1253]</p>
  
  <p><strong>COMPONENTS</strong><br>
   亻<br>
  In 你, 亻“person” is a meaning component, indicating “having to do with people.”<br>
   尔<br>
  In 你 nǐ, 尔 ěr is both a meaning component and a sound component. It is shorthand for 爾, an ancient character that meant “you” (among other things). The sound connection between 你 nǐ and 尔 ěr is not obvious in modern Mandarin.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-22T09:14:04.520Z
Please tell me your source?
user4951
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-22T10:52:01.610Z
@user4951 I wrote it at the very top of my answer, but here’s a link if that’s more helpful: https://www.outlier-linguistics.com/collections/chinese/products/outlier-dictionary-of-chinese-characters
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-21T17:28:47.620Z
2020-04-21T17:28:47.620Z
Mou某
<p>It says </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/pfs1p.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/pfs1p.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><a href="http://zhongwen.com/bushou.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://zhongwen.com/bushou.htm</a></p>

<p>If I search for you I got this</p>

<p>It consists of 2 characters</p>

<p>The first is person and you. The 2 characters are very different than the character in character ni. I supposed the ren is in alternate version. I wonder what's the character next to it.</p>

<p>It says there that the character next to it is you.</p>

<p>However, clicking it says it's the character er which means breath.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jXB9V.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jXB9V.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Of course, the character breath itself consist of 2 characters.</p>

<p>The upper part is ru (enter). And below we have number 8 pa divided by vertical line.</p>

<p>How wrong I am? Please correct me.</p>

<p>Any idea why letter 8 under enter becomes breath that combined with men becomes "you"? Any website that explains this?</p>

<character-components>
How do I understand Ni (you) character correctly?
# How do I understand Ni (you) character correctly?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-21)

It says

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/pfs1p.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/pfs1p.png)

<http://zhongwen.com/bushou.htm>

If I search for you I got this

It consists of 2 characters

The first is person and you. The 2 characters are very different than the character in character ni. I supposed the ren is in alternate version. I wonder what's the character next to it.

It says there that the character next to it is you.

However, clicking it says it's the character er which means breath.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/jXB9V.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/jXB9V.png)

Of course, the character breath itself consist of 2 characters.

The upper part is ru (enter). And below we have number 8 pa divided by vertical line.

How wrong I am? Please correct me.

Any idea why letter 8 under enter becomes breath that combined with men becomes "you"? Any website that explains this?

**Tags:** character-components


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-04-21. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

*Outlier*

> **FORM**  
> 你 consists of 尔 (a shorthand form of 爾 “you”), and 亻 (person), indicating the original meaning “you.” 尔 also gives the sound.  
> [Reference, p. 1253]
>
> **COMPONENTS**  
> 亻  
> In 你, 亻“person” is a meaning component, indicating “having to do with people.”  
> 尔  
> In 你 nǐ, 尔 ěr is both a meaning component and a sound component. It is shorthand for 爾, an ancient character that meant “you” (among other things). The sound connection between 你 nǐ and 尔 ěr is not obvious in modern Mandarin.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Please tell me your source?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 I wrote it at the very top of my answer, but here’s a link if that’s more helpful: https://www.outlier-linguistics.com/collections/chinese/products/outlier-dictionary-of-chinese-characters  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2020-05-01. Score: 0

On his blog SinoSplice the linguist John Pasden wrote an article about [Challenges to Character Understanding](https://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2020/04/01/challenges-to-character-understanding) where he explains the understanding of character `你` (nǐ).

He showed his source of **Outliers Dictionary** (add-on to the free app Pleco):
![Outliers Dictionary on Ni](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49718829303_b2b58020d6_o.png)


---

