The story of 爾

you, thou

爾 depicts several arrows pointing in one direction. Several arrows shoot towards the same target, it is hardly missed, so 爾 is used to describe something full, overflowing or near, but such meaning has been replaced by 彌 and 邇. 爾 is the picture of arrows, which look like a sign of indicating a direction, so爾 is used to represent person being addressed(you), but now we use你 instead. On the other hand, 爾 was also used as interjection in the past, but now we seldom use it.