(ér) - and, but, yet (literary) in Mandarin

ér

Traditional: 而

HSK 3

#119 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

and, but, yet (literary)

Word origin

而 is a pictograph that originally depicted whiskers or a beard hanging from the chin. It was borrowed early for the literary conjunction 'and, but, yet'.

Origin: pictograph
Root: originally depicts whiskers or a beard, later borrowed as a conjunction

Stroke order

而

Examples

效xiào。

Simple yet effective.

。

He smiled but did not answer.

。

To know but not act.

。

He works hard for his family.

而 (ér) means and, but, yet (literary). It is used as a conjunction in everyday Mandarin speech.

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Appears in 4 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 而.

而且ér qiěmoreover, furthermore, and also 而已ér yǐthat's all, nothing more 而是ér shìbut rather, instead 然而rán érhowever, yet, nevertheless

Used in

Stories

(1)

那件事
5 min read · Core 5000

Grammar articles

(12)

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Mandarin · Free printables

而: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "而" (and, but, yet (literary)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 3.