HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Pronouns

小孩儿 xiǎoháir “child” in Chinese

Traditional 小孩兒

What 小孩儿 means

  1. child

How to say 小孩儿

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale小xiǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale孩hái2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own儿rneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

小孩儿 in a sentence

  1. 她还是个小孩儿。

    Tā háishi ge xiǎoháir.

    She’s still a child.

    Sentence #2680418 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 连小孩儿都会做。

    Lián xiǎoháir dōu huì zuò.

    Even a child could do it.

    Sentence #4757667 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 有三个小孩儿在公园里玩儿。

    Yǒu sān ge xiǎoháir zài gōngyuán lǐ wánr.

    Three children are playing in the park.

    Sentence #348015 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 小孩儿 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 小 (xiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
小xiǎosmall
  • 亅hook · jué
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidThree small strokes, like grains: small.

The character 孩 (hái) with each of its parts in a different colour
孩háichild
  • 子child · zǐMeaning part
  • 亥part of the characterSound part

Memory aidChild 子 with 亥 (hài) for the sound: a child.

The character 儿 (ér) with each of its parts in a different colour
儿rnon-syllabic diminutive suffix
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐ

Memory aidSimplified from 兒, a child drawn with a big head. Only the legs 儿 are left today.

How to write 小孩儿

小 3 strokes · 孩 9 strokes · 儿 2 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

小孩儿 (xiǎoháir) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 小孩儿 (xiǎoháir). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 小孩儿

Words with 小

小xiǎo · small小姐xiǎojiě · miss小学xiǎoxué · elementary school小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child小时xiǎoshí · hour从小cóngxiǎo · from childhood小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood小心xiǎoxīn · be careful小区xiǎoqū · residential estate

Words with 孩

孩子háizi · child男孩儿nánháir · boy女孩儿nǚháir · girl

Words with 儿

儿子érzi · son女儿nǚ'ér · daughter哪儿nǎr · where这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little面条儿miàntiáor · noodles好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly男孩儿nánháir · boy

More words: People, Body & Health

累lèi · tired药yào · medicine男孩儿nánháir · boy女孩儿nǚháir · girl姓名xìngmíng · full name手shǒu · hand头tóu · head阿姨āyí · auntie

FAQs

小孩儿 (xiǎoháir) means “child”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it xiǎoháir: xiǎo with a 3rd tone, then hái with a 2nd tone, then r with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 小孩儿 is written 小孩兒. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaohair with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 小孩儿 from the suggestions. Typing xiaohair into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
小孩儿 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.