The kanji 爾 primarily conveys the meaning of "you," or "thou." It often refers to a second-person pronoun, similar to "you" or "thy" in English, though it's not commonly used in modern Japanese. It can also signify "thus," "so," or "then" in certain contexts.

・On-yomi (音読み): じ (ji) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): な (na) (This reading is used very rarely.)

⚫︎爾今 (じこん) Translation: Now; from now on. ⚫︎爾後 (じご) Translation: Thereafter; afterwards. ⚫︎汝爾 (なんじ) Translation: Thou; you (archaic and literary). This is a more common use, especially in historical texts.

The kanji 爾 is a pictophonetic compound. The left side is believed to be derived from a character that depicts a face. The right side is a phonetic component, indicating the sound. Therefore, the kanji's original meaning relates to a person, specifically "you" as in the second person, with its phonetic component contributing to the pronunciation.