呢

Stroke order

呢 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 口尸心 (RSP), four-corner 6701₁, composition ⿰口尼)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 181, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3430
• Dae Jaweon: page 399, character 31
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 609, character 3
• Unihan data for U+5462

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *nil) : semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 尼 (OC *nil)

Ota (1987) suggests that the particle used in questions comes from 聻 (MC nriX) , a particle which may come from 爾 (MC nyeX, “that”), and that the particle used to indicate an action in progress comes from earlier 哩 , which may come from 裏 (MC liX, “place”) .

呢

1. Sentence-final particle indicating a reciprocal question; used to apply the previously asked question to a new subject. What about ...?; And ...?

   你呢？  ―  Nǐ ne?  ―  How about you?

   噉我呢？ [Cantonese]  ―  gam² ngo⁵ ne¹?   ―  What about me?

   你覺得呢？／你觉得呢？  ―  Nǐ juéde ne?  ―  What do you think?

   你爸爸好嗎？你媽媽呢？ [MSC, trad.]
   你爸爸好吗？你妈妈呢？ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ bàba hǎo ma? Nǐ māma ne?

   How is your father? And your mom?

2. Sentence-final particle signalling a pause, to emphasize the preceding words.

   今天我倆值日，我這兒正掃著地，他呢，一溜煙兒跑了。 [MSC, trad.]
   今天我俩值日，我这儿正扫着地，他呢，一溜烟儿跑了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Jīntiān wǒ liǎ zhírì, wǒ zhèr zhèng sǎo zhe dì, tā ne, yīliūyānr pǎo le.

   He and I were on cleaning duty today. I was sweeping the room when he got away in a flash.

3. Sentence-final particle indicating continuation of an action or state, English present continuous. to be ...-ing

   我們上漢語課呢。 [MSC, trad.]
   我们上汉语课呢。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒmen shàng hànyǔ kè ne.

   We are attending a Chinese lesson.

4. Sentence-final particle used to make questions more indirect, to give the impression that the speaker is speaking to themselves.

   他去哪兒了呢？／他去哪儿了呢？  ―  Tā qù nǎr le ne?  ―  I wonder where he's going?

   伊來呢勿來？ [Shanghainese, trad.]
   伊来呢勿来？ [Shanghainese, simp.]

   From: 2007, Qian Nairong, 上海话大词典, page 309

   ⁶yi ⁶le ⁰gni ⁸veq-le [Wugniu]

   Is he coming or not?

5. (Shanghainese) Sentence-final particle expressing anger.

   早點介講呢！到現在再講。 [Shanghainese, trad.]
   早点介讲呢！到现在再讲。 [Shanghainese, simp.]

   From: 2007, Qian Nairong, 上海话大词典, page 309

   ⁵tsau-ti ⁵ka ⁵kaon ⁰gni ⁵tau ⁶yi-ze ⁵tse ⁵kaon [Wugniu]

   You should have said it sooner, not now!

When expressing an action in progress, 呢 can be used with 正在 (zhèngzài) and 著／着 (zhe) in a sentence. This is the full pattern. Each part is optional. The use of 呢 implies a contrastive mood.

我們正在上著漢語課呢。 [MSC, trad.]
我们正在上着汉语课呢。 [MSC, simp.]

Wǒmen zhèngzài shàng zhe hànyǔ kè ne.

But we are (still) in Chinese class now.

“cloth”

From French laine. In 《明史》, this word is also written as 嗹／𪡏. Cognate with Cantonese 冷 (laang5-1).

呢

1. Used in 呢喃 (nínán).
2. woollen cloth (for heavy clothing)

   呢絨／呢绒  ―  níróng  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 1853, 陳逢衡 , edited by 荒木謇, 𠸄咭唎紀略 [Yingjili jilüe; Egeresu kiryaku]‎, page unknown:

     男人衣服穿呢。惟女人穿各色紬緞。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     男人衣服穿呢。惟女人穿各色绸缎。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     Nánrén yīfú chuān ní. Wéi nǚrén chuān gèsè chōuduàn.

     the men wear woolen clothing; only the women wear vivid silks and satins

Substrate word. Compare:

• Proto-Tai *najꟲ (“this”): Zhuang neix (“this”), Thai นี้ (níi, “this”), Lao ນີ້ (nī, “this”)
• Proto-Mon-Khmer *niʔ ~ nih (“this”): Khmer នេះ (nih, “this”)
• Proto-Mon-Khmer *naaj (deictic particle): Khmer នាយ (niəy, “over there”), Vietnamese này, nầy (“this”), Vietnamese nay (“now”), Vietnamese nấy (“that”)
• Proto-Hmong-Mien *ʔneinˣ (“this”): White Hmong no (“here, this”)
• Proto-Austronesian *nay (“this”, deictic particle), *qani (“this”, proximal deictic particle), *-ni (“this, here; now”, proximal spatio-temporal deictic suffix): Malay ini (“this”).

呢

1. (Cantonese) this

• Unlike Mandarin 這／这 (zhè), 呢 cannot be used alone without a following classifier. See 呢個#Usage notes.

呢

1. (Cantonese) hey; Used to raise attention of the listener

   • 呢，你同我搦減啲嘢吖！ [Cantonese, trad.]
     呢，你同我搦减啲嘢吖！ [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 1957, 謝賢 (actor), in 《鬼夜哭》 , 5:17 from the start

     ne², nei⁵ tung⁴ ngo⁵ nik¹ gam² di¹ je⁵ aa¹!

     Hey, hold some of the stuff for me!

From clipping of English level.

呢

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, gaming) levels (in a video game)
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, figuratively) levels in a society; social class

呢

1. sound
2. Alternative form of 䛏 (ní)

呢

1. Only used in 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 (ǎn mānī bēimēi hōng).

呢

1. (Southern Min) Used in some question words.

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Go-on: に (ni)、ねい (nei)
• Kan-on: じ (ji)^{←ぢ (di, historical)}、でい (dei)

呢 (eum 니 (ni))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

呢: Hán Nôm readings: ni, nài, nấy, nê, nỉ, nì, này

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.