<p>One of the most common words in Chinese has <em>er-hua</em> right smack dab in the middle of it: <strong>嗝儿屁</strong>.</p>

<p>I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said, but I want to show you a neat little trick using <a href="http://www.pleco.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pleco</a>. I'm pretty sure most Chinese learners have a copy of Pleco installed on their smartphones or tablets. Here's something you can do to find <em>er-hua</em> words. You can search the following in your version of the app:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>@r@</p>
</blockquote>

<p>or</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>?r?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The wonderful thing about pinyin is that 儿 as <em>er-hua</em> will always be noted as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>r</p>
</blockquote>

<p>in MSM and not <code>er</code>. Here both @ and ? can work as wildcards, so it will return everything with <em>er-hua</em> inside of two other characters. Like so:</p>

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

<p>...and the list is long...</p>

<hr>

<p>You can also try:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>??r?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Which will now return words with two wildcard characters at the beginning + <em>erhua</em> in the middle + something at the end.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/eZiO5.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/eZiO5.png" alt="yup"></a></p>

<p>and again: the list is <em>long</em>.</p>

<hr>

<p>The last thing you might want to know is that:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>*</p>
</blockquote>

<p>also works as a wildcard for zero to three characters.</p>

<p>So you could search:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><code>*r*</code></p>
</blockquote>

<p>or even</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><code>**r**</code></p>
</blockquote>

<p>for zero to six characters, potentially, surrounding <em>erhua</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-14T10:37:46.283Z
2018-05-14T14:53:36.277Z
2018-05-14T14:53:36.277Z
Mou某
<p>"儿" is just used to make it easier to say it. 
It will not change the mean. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-16T11:06:10.010Z
2018-05-16T11:06:10.010Z
大崔同学
<p>Not everybody in China use "儿化". People in Beijing and other places around it usually use "儿化". It is like a local habit instead of a common rule of Chinese language.</p>

<p>So most of time it depends on your feeling, people will say "大门儿" but not "门儿口", and people will say "玩儿玩具" but not "玩玩儿具" or "玩儿玩儿具". That because people think it isn't read fluently.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-14T06:54:42.247Z
2018-05-14T06:54:42.247Z
Sraw
<p>Sometimes we use <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%84%BF%E5%8C%96" rel="nofollow noreferrer">儿化</a> (érhuà) without it changing the meaning of the word, e.g., <a href="http://dict.cn/%E9%97%A8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">门</a> (mén; door, gate) becomes <a href="http://dict.cn/%E9%97%A8%E5%84%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">门儿</a> (ménr).</p>

<p>However, some Chinese words contain 儿化-izable words, such as 门口 (ménkǒu; doorway, gate), and I intuitively feel that it's incorrect to apply 儿化 mid-word, giving 门儿口 in this case.  I want to check if my intuition is correct.</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: Is it incorrect to use 儿化 inside a word?</p>

<p>Other examples are:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9%E5%AD%90" rel="nofollow noreferrer">小孩子</a> (xiǎoháizi; child) contains <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">小孩</a> (xiǎohái; child), which can be turned into <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9%E5%84%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">小孩儿</a> (xiǎoháir; child) without changing the meaning, but it feels incorrect to write 小孩儿子.</li>
<li><a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%8E%A9%E5%85%B7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">玩具</a> (wánjù; toys) contains <a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%8E%A9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">玩</a> (wán; to play), which can be turned into <a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%8E%A9%E5%84%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">玩儿</a> (wánr) without changing the meaning, but it feels incorrect to write 玩儿具.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-14T07:53:48.110Z
To my knowledge, -儿, -子 won't come together in a word.
tsh
<grammar><erhuayin>
Is it incorrect to use 儿化 (érhuà) inside a word, e.g., 门儿口, and 小孩儿子 and 玩儿具?
# Is it incorrect to use 儿化 (érhuà) inside a word, e.g., 门儿口, and 小孩儿子 and 玩儿具?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-14)

Sometimes we use [儿化](http://dict.cn/%E5%84%BF%E5%8C%96) (érhuà) without it changing the meaning of the word, e.g., [门](http://dict.cn/%E9%97%A8) (mén; door, gate) becomes [门儿](http://dict.cn/%E9%97%A8%E5%84%BF) (ménr).

However, some Chinese words contain 儿化-izable words, such as 门口 (ménkǒu; doorway, gate), and I intuitively feel that it's incorrect to apply 儿化 mid-word, giving 门儿口 in this case. I want to check if my intuition is correct.

**Question**: Is it incorrect to use 儿化 inside a word?

Other examples are:

* [小孩子](http://dict.cn/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9%E5%AD%90) (xiǎoháizi; child) contains [小孩](http://dict.cn/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9) (xiǎohái; child), which can be turned into [小孩儿](http://dict.cn/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%A9%E5%84%BF) (xiǎoháir; child) without changing the meaning, but it feels incorrect to write 小孩儿子.
* [玩具](http://dict.cn/%E7%8E%A9%E5%85%B7) (wánjù; toys) contains [玩](http://dict.cn/%E7%8E%A9) (wán; to play), which can be turned into [玩儿](http://dict.cn/%E7%8E%A9%E5%84%BF) (wánr) without changing the meaning, but it feels incorrect to write 玩儿具.

**Tags:** grammar, erhuayin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: To my knowledge, -儿, -子 won't come together in a word.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-05-14. Score: 3

One of the most common words in Chinese has *er-hua* right smack dab in the middle of it: **嗝儿屁**.

I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said, but I want to show you a neat little trick using [Pleco](http://www.pleco.com/). I'm pretty sure most Chinese learners have a copy of Pleco installed on their smartphones or tablets. Here's something you can do to find *er-hua* words. You can search the following in your version of the app:

> @r@

or

> ?r?

The wonderful thing about pinyin is that 儿 as *er-hua* will always be noted as:

> r

in MSM and not `er`. Here both @ and ? can work as wildcards, so it will return everything with *er-hua* inside of two other characters. Like so:

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

...and the list is long...

---

You can also try:

> ??r?

Which will now return words with two wildcard characters at the beginning + *erhua* in the middle + something at the end.

[![yup](https://i.sstatic.net/eZiO5.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/eZiO5.png)

and again: the list is *long*.

---

The last thing you might want to know is that:

> \*

also works as a wildcard for zero to three characters.

So you could search:

> `*r*`

or even

> `**r**`

for zero to six characters, potentially, surrounding *erhua*.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-05-16. Score: 0

"儿" is just used to make it easier to say it.
It will not change the mean.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-05-14. Score: 0

Not everybody in China use "儿化". People in Beijing and other places around it usually use "儿化". It is like a local habit instead of a common rule of Chinese language.

So most of time it depends on your feeling, people will say "大门儿" but not "门儿口", and people will say "玩儿玩具" but not "玩玩儿具" or "玩儿玩儿具". That because people think it isn't read fluently.


---

