呢
ne · HSK 1
particle: marking quesitons about subject already mentioned
❓ 呢 = 口 (mouth) + 尼 (ní, phonetic) — mouth marker for follow-up questions
The 口 radical signals a spoken particle; 尼 lends the sound, shifted to 'ne'. Use it to bounce a question back ('and you?') or to soften a statement into a lingering, affirmative tone.
呢 — mouth 口 + ni 尼 (phonetic)
A phono-semantic compound: 口 (mouth) signals it's a spoken sound or particle, while 尼 supplies the pronunciation 'ni'. Originally written for a buzzing or murmuring sound, it was borrowed in vernacular Chinese as a sentence-final particle marking questions or ongoing states.