您

nín · HSK 1

you

您 = 你 (you) + 心 (heart) — the polite, heartfelt 'you'

Formal/respectful form of 你 (nǐ, you), built by stacking 心 (xīn, heart) underneath. Same pronunciation family as 你, just with a tonal shift to nín. Used for elders, teachers, customers.

您 — 你 (you) + 心 (heart) below
您 is a polite form of 你 (you), formed by adding 心 (heart) underneath. It emerged in vernacular Chinese, especially in northern dialects like Beijing Mandarin, to convey respect by symbolically placing the addressee 'in one's heart.' It is now the standard honorific second-person pronoun.

More Chinese words · How Chinese works