霓 meaning and stroke order
Rainbow; colorful, variegated
How to write 霓, stroke by stroke
16 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 霓
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- secondary rainbow
- Japanese cicada
- old variant of 霓[ni2]
How 霓 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. The child 兒 of a rain cloud 雨.
Radical: 雨 (rain), shared by 42 characters on this site.
How to remember 霓
Picture rain 雨 (yǔ) on top and a child 兒 (ér) below: the rainbow's little child is the faint second rainbow that appears after rain. That is 霓 (ní), the secondary rainbow.
Today 霓 mostly appears in the word 霓虹 (níhóng), meaning neon or rainbow colors, and especially 霓虹灯 (níhóngdēng), neon lights. Example: 街上的霓虹灯很漂亮。(Jiē shang de níhóngdēng hěn piàoliang.) The neon lights on the street are beautiful.
Common mistake: Learners often say the second tone wrong or mix it up with 泥 (ní, mud), which sounds the same but has the water radical 氵. Remember that 霓 sits under the rain radical 雨 because it is a sky phenomenon.
Questions about 霓
How many strokes are in 霓?
霓 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 霓 mean?
霓 (ní) means rainbow; colorful, variegated.
How do you pronounce 霓?
霓 is pronounced ní, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 霓?
The radical of 霓 is 雨, which carries the idea of "rain". Dictionaries list 霓 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 霓?
The traditional form of 霓 is 蜺. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 霓 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 霓 and 虹?
虹 (hóng) is the main, bright rainbow, and 霓 (ní) is the fainter secondary rainbow that sometimes appears outside it. Together they form 霓虹, which now usually means neon.
Can 霓 be used alone in modern Chinese?
Not usually. In everyday speech it almost always appears inside words like 霓虹 or 霓虹灯. On its own it feels literary or poetic.