Example sentences
wǒ我chī吃yī一diǎn点ér儿。
I'll eat a little.
kuài快yī一diǎn点ér儿！
Hurry up!
About this word
一 is one, 点 is a dot, and 儿 is the northern erhua ending, so 一点儿 is literally "one dot's worth". It has two jobs. Before a noun it means a small amount: 一点儿水, 一点儿钱. After an adjective it means "a bit more": 快一点儿, 好一点儿. Do not confuse it with 有点儿, which also translates as "a little" but goes before an adjective and usually signals something unwanted: 有点儿冷 means it is colder than you would like. 一点儿 is neutral in feeling, 有点儿 carries a complaint.
The story behind the character
一
One horizontal stroke, the simplest character there is. Yet Xu Shen loaded it with the heaviest meaning: 一, 惟初太始: "one, the very beginning, where the Way is set and heaven and earth divide." One stroke, holding up the whole start of the universe. That might be the most weight a single line has ever carried.
点
点 is 占 plus four dots along the bottom. The traditional 點 was 黑 (black) with 占 supplying the sound, and Xu Shen glossed it as 小黑也, a small black spot. His definition of 黑 is the color of smoke from a fire, so the four dots at the base of 点 are what is left of the smoke. An o'clock, a dot, a little bit: same small mark on a surface.
儿
The traditional 兒 is a baby's head with the fontanelle still open (that gap on top) and two legs below. Xu Shen wrote 儿, 孺子也. 孺子 is a little child.