How to Write 侬 (nóng) — Meaning “You (dialect, e.g., Shanghainese) / I (literary)”

Picture a farmer (农) standing next to a person (亻) saying hello in Shanghainese: 'nóng hǎo!' The person radical reminds you it's about people, and '农' sounds like 'nong' in 'Shanghainese nong' — both help you recall the meaning 'you'.

Write the left radical 亻 first with a short left-falling stroke and a vertical stroke. Then write 农: the dot on top, then left-falling, horizontal, left-falling, and right-falling in that order. Make sure the right side is slightly wider than the left so the character looks balanced.

侬 (nóng) uses the radical 亻 plus 农 and means 'you' or 'I' in dialects. 仰 (yǎng) has 卬 on the right and means 'to look up' or 'admire'. 仲 (zhòng) has 中 on the right and means 'middle' or 'second'. Visually, 侬 has a larger right component with more strokes, while 仰 and 仲 are more compact.

侬 is not used in standard Mandarin; it appears mainly in Wu dialects like Shanghainese, where 侬 means 'you'. The greeting 侬好 (nóng hǎo) is famous as Shanghai's version of 'hello'. It also appears in literary context as 'I' in classical Chinese, but learners will most often encounter it in dialect phrases or cultural references to Wu speech.

Common words containing 侬 include: 侬好 (nóng hǎo) — Hello (Shanghainese); 侬家 (nóng jiā) — I / Me (dialect); 吴侬软语 (wú nóng ruǎn yǔ) — soft and sweet Wu dialect.