<p>儿(=兒) is optional. 
子 already means "son", and 女 (used to) mean "daughter".  E.g. 育有一子一女 means "feed one son and one daughter".  </p>

<p>In Old Chinese, most words were monosyllabic.
While in modern Chinese, most words consist of two or more characters, so 儿 is added.  Why is 儿 in different positions in 儿子 (son), 女儿 (daughter)?  Mainly because other candidate two character words have had meanings. </p>

<p>儿女 means "sons and daughters" or "(young) people".<br>
男儿 is the same meaning as "man" in phrases "be a man", "man enough".<br>
In fact, 女儿 also has other meanings. It could mean "unmarried girls" or "(young) women".  </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-08T20:59:11.357Z
2016-03-09T05:54:40.253Z
2016-03-09T05:54:40.253Z
Tianren Liu
<p>I see the above answer can not say wrong, but I feel a little strange. "儿" You can understand the children of parents. 儿子的"子" Represents men: the child is a boy. 女儿的"女" represents a woman: the child is a girl. In Chinese, parents said a son is "儿子" or "小儿" (xiao er), and a girl is "妮儿" (nin er).</p>

<p>The above mentioned is limited to "儿子", "女儿". If you have to connect to (桌子) the table, this is without any meaning. Do you understand?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-15T03:58:45.543Z
no! This is a common language, almost all of the Chinese parents are saying “妮儿”。Expressing the love of their parents to their daughter!
What I mean here is to explain the common life,。if you want hard, very professional, please refer to the dictionary!
tgzmos
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-15T04:13:25.167Z
Sometimes it is too formal, too written. I prefer my parents to call me “小儿”。I enjoy the feeling of love.
tgzmos
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-15T03:01:25.010Z
2016-03-15T04:39:49.590Z
2016-03-15T04:39:49.590Z
tgzmos
<p>This is an interesting question, because it allows us to look at how words are formed in modern Chinese.</p>

<h2>The Characters</h2>

<p>Both 兒 and 子 meant "child" or "son" in ancient Chinese. 兒 was more specific, while 子 had a variety of other uses, like "master" (as in 孔子 - master Kong/Confucius). When 子 meant child, it was somewhat inclusive of female children, although it can also refer to males only, as in the sentence <code>无子,有女二人 [he had] no sons, but two daughters</code>.  </p>

<p>兒 can sometimes be used for "children" in general, as in the modern 兒童, but in ancient Chinese, it tended to be male-specific. The Qin dynasty proto-dictionary <em>倉頡篇 Cangjiepian</em> gives the definition:<br>
<code>男曰儿,女曰婴 male [young children] are called 兒, female [ones] are called 嬰</code>.<br>
When 兒 refers to the child <em>of someone</em>, it means son.</p>

<p>女 means daughter, but has always also meant "woman" or "female (human)". </p>

<h2>Forming Two-Syllable Words</h2>

<p>As the pronunciation of the Chinese language changed over the centuries, many one-syllable words became homophones. In order to clarify which word they meant, people formed two-syllable words that were less likely to be confused. Three very common ways to do this are:  </p>

<ul>
<li>putting two words with very similar meaning together, as in <code>房屋 (house-house)</code>, <code>幫助 (help-help)</code> or <code>美麗 (pretty-pretty)</code>  </li>
<li>adding a more general word that clarifies the <em>type</em> of thing being described:  <code>偉大 (grand-big)</code> or <code>月亮 (moon-light)</code></li>
<li>only for nouns, adding 子: <code>桌子 (table)</code>, <code>梨子 (pear)</code> and <code>褲子 (pants)</code> all mean the exact same thing with or without the 子</li>
</ul>

<p>It’s easy to see how 兒子 follows all three of these rules. I suspect it was formed by the third rule, because the 子 is pronounced in the fifth / neutral tone, which suggests it does not carry the meaning of the word.</p>

<p>So why 女兒 instead of 女子? Firstly, 女子 <em>can</em> mean daughter or "female child". But it can also refer to "women" in general. So 女兒 is more specific.<br>
And why not 兒女? The word "daughter" would not be formed this way, because 女 is more specific than 兒, which can be gender-neutral. Therefore, 兒女 reads as "sons and daughters", which is indeed what it means.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-09T16:21:20.600Z
Exactly, this shows the process of Chinese words transforming from one-syllable to two-syllable. Two-syllable words are dominant in modern Chinese but ancient Chinese are all about  one-syllable words.
Archeosudoerus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-09T11:55:28.897Z
2016-03-09T12:33:32.877Z
2016-03-09T12:33:32.877Z
KWeiss
<p>儿 [Er] child  </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>儿子 [Érzi] son<br>
    女儿 [Nǚ'ér] daughter  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>So, why is 儿 in different positions in each word but they are both valid?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-08T20:41:54.003Z
What kind of explanation do you want?  Do you want an historic explanation of how the terms have appeared over time?  Do you want a grammar rule to subsume it under?  Say, 子 forms noun phrases by following other nouns, while 女 serves an an adjective modifying 儿?  The problem with that grammar rule is that I just made  up the analysis of 女儿, and no doubt other analyses could work too, say as a compound noun.
Colin McLarty
<grammar><mandarin><etymology><word>
Why is 儿 in different positions in "儿子" and "女儿"?
# Why is 儿 in different positions in "儿子" and "女儿"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-08)

儿 [Er] child

> 儿子 [Érzi] son  
> 女儿 [Nǚ'ér] daughter

So, why is 儿 in different positions in each word but they are both valid?

**Tags:** grammar, mandarin, etymology, word

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What kind of explanation do you want?  Do you want an historic explanation of how the terms have appeared over time?  Do you want a grammar rule to subsume it under?  Say, 子 forms noun phrases by following other nouns, while 女 serves an an adjective modifying 儿?  The problem with that grammar rule is that I just made  up the analysis of 女儿, and no doubt other analyses could work too, say as a compound noun.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-03-09. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

This is an interesting question, because it allows us to look at how words are formed in modern Chinese.

## The Characters

Both 兒 and 子 meant "child" or "son" in ancient Chinese. 兒 was more specific, while 子 had a variety of other uses, like "master" (as in 孔子 - master Kong/Confucius). When 子 meant child, it was somewhat inclusive of female children, although it can also refer to males only, as in the sentence `无子,有女二人 [he had] no sons, but two daughters`.

兒 can sometimes be used for "children" in general, as in the modern 兒童, but in ancient Chinese, it tended to be male-specific. The Qin dynasty proto-dictionary *倉頡篇 Cangjiepian* gives the definition:  
`男曰儿,女曰婴 male [young children] are called 兒, female [ones] are called 嬰`.  
When 兒 refers to the child *of someone*, it means son.

女 means daughter, but has always also meant "woman" or "female (human)".

## Forming Two-Syllable Words

As the pronunciation of the Chinese language changed over the centuries, many one-syllable words became homophones. In order to clarify which word they meant, people formed two-syllable words that were less likely to be confused. Three very common ways to do this are:

* putting two words with very similar meaning together, as in `房屋 (house-house)`, `幫助 (help-help)` or `美麗 (pretty-pretty)`
* adding a more general word that clarifies the *type* of thing being described: `偉大 (grand-big)` or `月亮 (moon-light)`
* only for nouns, adding 子: `桌子 (table)`, `梨子 (pear)` and `褲子 (pants)` all mean the exact same thing with or without the 子

It’s easy to see how 兒子 follows all three of these rules. I suspect it was formed by the third rule, because the 子 is pronounced in the fifth / neutral tone, which suggests it does not carry the meaning of the word.

So why 女兒 instead of 女子? Firstly, 女子 *can* mean daughter or "female child". But it can also refer to "women" in general. So 女兒 is more specific.  
And why not 兒女? The word "daughter" would not be formed this way, because 女 is more specific than 兒, which can be gender-neutral. Therefore, 兒女 reads as "sons and daughters", which is indeed what it means.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Exactly, this shows the process of Chinese words transforming from one-syllable to two-syllable. Two-syllable words are dominant in modern Chinese but ancient Chinese are all about  one-syllable words.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-03-08. Score: 3

儿(=兒) is optional.
子 already means "son", and 女 (used to) mean "daughter". E.g. 育有一子一女 means "feed one son and one daughter".

In Old Chinese, most words were monosyllabic.
While in modern Chinese, most words consist of two or more characters, so 儿 is added. Why is 儿 in different positions in 儿子 (son), 女儿 (daughter)? Mainly because other candidate two character words have had meanings.

儿女 means "sons and daughters" or "(young) people".  
男儿 is the same meaning as "man" in phrases "be a man", "man enough".  
In fact, 女儿 also has other meanings. It could mean "unmarried girls" or "(young) women".


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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-03-15. Score: -1

I see the above answer can not say wrong, but I feel a little strange. "儿" You can understand the children of parents. 儿子的"子" Represents men: the child is a boy. 女儿的"女" represents a woman: the child is a girl. In Chinese, parents said a son is "儿子" or "小儿" (xiao er), and a girl is "妮儿" (nin er).

The above mentioned is limited to "儿子", "女儿". If you have to connect to (桌子) the table, this is without any meaning. Do you understand?

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: no! This is a common language, almost all of the Chinese parents are saying “妮儿”。Expressing the love of their parents to their daughter! What I mean here is to explain the common life,。if you want hard, very professional, please refer to the dictionary!  
> **username_3**: Sometimes it is too formal, too written. I prefer my parents to call me “小儿”。I enjoy the feeling of love.  

---

