About
The character 侬 is a phono-semantic compound, formed with the semantic person radical 亻 on the left and the phonetic component 農 (simplified as 农). Originally, it was a general noun for people, often implying commoners or farmers, influenced by the phonetic component's agricultural meaning. Over time, its use became concentrated in regional dialects, especially Wu Chinese. There, it evolved into a first-person pronoun meaning "I" or "me", and in some dialects like Shanghainese, it further shifted to function as the second-person pronoun "you", marking a complete transition from a general noun to a specific dialectal grammatical marker.
Example Sentences Hide
侬从哪里来？
这是侬的书吗？
侬今天心情很好。
我知道侬的意思。
侬是否喜欢这里？
侬的家乡在哪里？
侬应该多注意身体。
如果侬觉得累，就休息一下。