Chinese word

耳朵

Pronunciation

Pinyiněr duǒ

Meaning

  • nounear

Example

我的耳朵有点疼。wǒ de ér duǒ yóu diǎn téng

My ear hurts a little.

Illustration for 耳朵 (ear)

More examples

洗头时，她不小心让水流进了耳朵。xǐ tóu shí tā bù xiǎo xīn ràng shuǐ liú jìn le ér duǒ

While washing her hair, she accidentally got water in her ear.

Core concept

A paired body organ that receives sounds from the outside and passes their vibrations toward the inner ear.

Common phrases

  • 耳朵疼ér duǒ téng

    ear hurts

  • 掏耳朵tāo ér duǒ

    clean one's ears

  • 耳朵进水ér duǒ jìn shuǐ

    get water in one's ear

Similar words

耳ěr: A one-character written term for the ear, the organ that receives sound.
听力tīng lì: The ability to hear and make sense of sounds and speech.
听觉tīng jué: The sensory ability to detect and experience sound.

Definition in Chinese

位于头部两侧的听觉器官，感受声音并将振动传入内耳和听神经。wèi yú tóu bù liǎng cè de tīng jué qì guān gǎn shòu shēng yīn bìng jiāng zhèn dòng chuán rù nèi ěr hé tīng shén jīng

Word origin

耳朵 (ěrduǒ, "ear") developed as a spoken form of 耳 (ěr, "ear"), with 朵 (duǒ, "cluster") added to create a natural two-syllable noun rather than a second body-part meaning.

Usage tips

  • The written pronunciation has two third tones, but the first one commonly becomes a rising tone before the following third tone in connected speech.

Related words

  • 耳聋ěr lóngdeafnessnoun
  • 耳塞ěr sāiearplugnoun
  • 耳垢ěr gòuearwaxnoun

Word lists with this word