Chinese word

泥

Pronunciation

Pinyinní

Meaning

  • nounmud

Example

孩子玩完后手上全是泥。hái zi wán wán hòu shǒu shàng quán shì ní

After the child finishes playing, their hands are covered in mud.

Illustration for 泥 (mud)

More examples

汽车驶过，路上留下了泥的车辙。qì chē shǐ guò lù shàng liú xià le ní de chē zhé

As the car drives past, it leaves muddy tire tracks on the road.

Core concept

Wet earth that clumps and sticks when water binds soil together.

Common phrases

  • 泥坑ní kēng

    mud pit

  • 泥沙ní shā

    mud and sand

  • 沾上泥zhān shàng ní

    get muddy

Similar words

泥巴ní bā: An informal name for mud, commonly used for dirt left on children's hands or clothes.
泥土ní tǔ: A mass of ground soil suitable for plants or construction.
泥浆ní jiāng: Nearly liquid mud with enough water to run, splash, or spread.
泥沙ní shā: Sediment made from a mixture of mud and sand.

Definition in Chinese

由水和土混合形成的潮湿、粘稠的土块或物质。yóu shuǐ hé tǔ hùn hé xíng chéng de cháo shī nián chóu de tǔ kuài huò wù zhì

Word origin

泥 (ní, "mud") is a phono-semantic character formed from 氵 (shuǐ, "water") + 尼 (ní, "nun"), with the left side marking a connection to wet earth and the right side supplying the sound.

Usage tips

  • The rising second tone in ní helps distinguish this word from the third-tone syllable in the common Mandarin pronoun meaning "you".

Related words

  • 泥塑ní sùclay sculpturenoun
  • 泥块ní kuàilump of mudnoun

Word lists with this word