尼

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Buddhist nun; (often used in phonetic spellings)

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Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Components 尸匕

nun · Heisig RSH #883

flag + spoon

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
马尼拉大学	Mǎ ní lā Dà xué	University of Manila
尼安德特人	Ní ān dé tè rén	Neanderthal man
马天尼	mǎ tiān ní	(loanword) martini
马尼拉	Mǎ ní lā	Manila, capital of Philippines
阿尔巴尼亚人	Ā ěr bā ní yà rén	Albanian (person)
尼人	Ní rén	Neanderthal (abbr. for 尼安德特人[Ni2 an1 de2 te4 ren2])
尼日尔	Ní rì ěr	Niger (country in West Africa); Niger River, West Africa
中尼	Zhōng Ní	China-Nepal
尼斯	Ní sī	Nice (city in France)
罗马尼亚	Luó mǎ ní yà	Romania
阿多尼斯	Ā duō ní sī	Adonis, figure in Greek mythology
美拉尼西亚	Měi lā ní xī yà	Melanesia
色尼区	Sè ní Qū	Seni, a district of Nagqu City 那曲市[Na4 qu3 Shi4], Tibet
阿尔巴尼亚	Ā ěr bā ní yà	Albania
西德尼	Xī dé ní	Sidney or Sydney (name)
尼日利亚	Ní rì lì yà	Nigeria
尼日尔河	Ní rì ěr Hé	Niger River of West Africa
阿比西尼亚人	Ā bǐ xī ní yà rén	Abyssinian (person)
安东尼	Ān dōng ní	Anthony (name)
尼克	Ní kè	Nick (name)

These characters use 尼 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
尼 sound part	ní	Buddhist nun; used in transliterations
泥	ní	mud, earth, clay; plaster, paste
呢	ne	wool; interrogative or emphatic final particle
妮	nī	maid, servant girl; cute girl
昵	nì	close, intimate; to approach
怩	ní	timid, shy; bashful, ashamed
旎	nǐ	romantic; the fluttering of a flag
伲	nì	we (Shanghai dialect)
坭	ní	mud, mire; to paste, to plaster
铌	ní	niobium

Real sentences with 尼 — read them aloud, then paste your own into the converter.

尼龙很结实。

Nílóng hěn jiēshi.

Nylon is very strong.
尼姑住在山上的寺庙里。

Nígū zhù zài shān shang de sìmiào li.

The Buddhist nun lives in the temple on the mountain.

Usage tip: 尼主要出现在音译词（尼龙 nylon）和尼姑 (Buddhist nun) 里。