Meaning of 泥
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- mud
- clay
- paste
- pulp
- restrained
How to use 泥
泥 (ní) means mud or clay, and also any mashed paste, as in 土豆泥 (tǔdòuní) mashed potato or 枣泥 (zǎoní) date paste. It often appears in compounds like 水泥 (shuǐní) cement and 泥土 (nítǔ) soil. Example: 他的鞋上都是泥。(Tā de xié shang dōu shì ní.) His shoes are covered in mud.
泥 has the water radical 氵 on the left and 尼 (ní) on the right, which gives the sound. Water mixed into the ground makes mud, so think of 氵 plus the sound ní.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes confuse 泥 (ní) with 呢 (ne), which shares the 尼 part but has the mouth radical 口 and is a sentence particle. Also remember that the second-tone ní is the common reading. The fourth-tone nì is rare.
泥 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
泥 ní · mud · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 泥.
| 水泥 | shuǐní | cement |
| 泥土 | nítǔ | earth; soil; mud; clay |
| 泥潭 | nítán | quagmire |
| 泥巴 | níba | (coll.) mud |
| 土豆泥 | tǔdòuní | mashed potato |
| 草泥马 | cǎonímǎ | see 肏你媽|肏你妈[cao4 ni3 ma1] (near homophone used to avoid Internet censorship); (Internet sl |
| 泥泞 | nínìng | muddy; mud |
| 烂泥 | lànní | mud; mire |
| 烂醉如泥 | lànzuìrúní | (idiom) to be dead drunk; to be plastered |
| 泥浆 | níjiāng | slurry; mud |
| 淤泥 | yūní | silt; sludge |
Questions about 泥
What does 泥 mean?
泥 (ní) means "mud; clay" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 泥?
泥 is made of 1 character: 泥 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.
Is 泥 an HSK word?
Yes. 泥 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
When is 泥 pronounced nì instead of ní?
The reading nì means to be restrained or stubbornly attached to something. It appears mainly in the literary word 拘泥 (jūnì), to be rigid or stick too closely to rules. In everyday speech you will almost always say ní.
What is the difference between 泥 and 泥巴?
Both mean mud. 泥巴 (níba) is more colloquial and common in speech, especially with children, while 泥 alone works in compounds and more neutral sentences, such as 泥土 (nítǔ) or 水泥 (shuǐní).