已 (yǐ) · already

Meanings

1 already
2 to cease; to stop

Characters

已

yǐ

already; to cease

Easily confused with 己 (self) and 巳 (the sixth Earthly Branch) - the hook direction differs.

Examples

HSK 1

时间已不多了。

Shíjiān yǐ bù duō le.

There's not much time left.

HSK 6

已是深夜。

Yǐ shì shēnyè.

It is already late at night.

HSK 7-9

事已至此，别再后悔。

Shì yǐ zhì cǐ, bié zài hòuhuǐ.

What's done is done, don't regret it anymore.

Tips

usage

已 is more literary and formal than 已经. In spoken Chinese, 已经 is far more common for 'already.' 已 appears mainly in written Chinese and set phrases.

grammar

Common in compound expressions: 已知 (already known), 已故 (deceased), 已久 (for a long time).

Components

ideograph

已 yǐ

already; to cease

Abstract grammatical marker best learned as the perfective 'already' of 已经. Part of a tight visual triplet - 己 (self), 已 (already), 巳 (snake branch) - distinguished only by how far the left vertical breaks the upper bar. Filed under Kangxi #49 己; the radical-shape is the whole glyph, not a separable piece.

Filed under radical 己 (jǐ, #49) by convention. 己 is not a separate component in 已, so no strokes are highlighted.