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

ér

Traditional: 而

Line drawing of 而
Coloured illustration of 而
HSK 4
#119 of 2,700Core 1000

Translation

and, but, yet (literary)

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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

Stroke order for 而

而

Examples

。

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

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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 taught in chapter 4, lesson 2: 而, 孩子, 看到 and 7 more words.