(ér) - and, but, yet (literary) in Mandarin
érTraditional: 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。
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.
Appears in 4 words
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 而.
Used in
Stories
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