How to Write 尔 (ěr) — Meaning “You (literary)”

Picture a small person (the bottom 小-like shape) with a curved hat (the top hook) pointing at you and saying 'You!' This links the visual shape to the meaning 'you'. Alternatively, remember that 尔 sounds like 'ear' and you occasionally hear it in the word 偶尔 (occasionally).

Stroke order: first left-falling (丿), then horizontal hook (乛), then dot inside the hook, then another left-falling, and finally a dot. A common mistake is making the bottom part too wide or giving it three strokes like the character 小—remember 尔's bottom has only two strokes (a left-falling and a dot), not three.

尔 has a distinctive top hook (horizontal hook with a dot inside) and a bottom part resembling a narrow 小. In contrast, ⺌ is a flat group of three strokes (dot, dot, left-falling) often found in characters like 学. ⺍ is even simpler, just two dots or a short horizontal, seen in characters like 当.

尔 is rarely used alone as 'you'; it mainly appears in literary or formal compound words like 偶尔 (occasionally), 尔后 (thereafter), and 卓尔 (outstanding). It adds a classical tone and is found in idioms such as 尔虞我诈 (you cheat and I trick). Students at HSK 5 should recognize it in these fixed expressions.

Common words containing 尔 include: 偶尔 (ǒu ěr) — Occasionally; 尔后 (ěr hòu) — Thereafter; henceforth; 卓尔 (zhuó ěr) — outstanding; distinguished.