既

jì
conjunction HSK 4 #2,523

Meanings

  1. 1 already
  2. 2 since
  3. 3 both...and...

Examples

HSK 3
Tā jì cōngming yòu piàoliang.
She is both smart and beautiful.
HSK 4
Zhè dào cài jì hǎochī yòu piányi.
This dish is both delicious and cheap.
HSK 6
Jìláizhī, zé ān zhī.
Since you're here, make the best of it.

Tips

grammar
既…又/也… means both…and… It connects two qualities: 既简单又实用 (both simple and practical).
culture
既来之,则安之 is a famous proverb meaning 'since you've come, settle in' - make peace with your situation.

Components

radical
旡 jì
person turning away with a full stomach
Right side is 旡, picturing a kneeling person twisting their head back from the food-bowl - they are done eating. This is the indexing radical, and gives 既 its core image: 'the meal is finished'. From that grew the abstract senses 'already', 'since (something is now done)', and the conjunction 既…又… 'both…and…' - facts already in place.
semantic
皀 jí
food vessel; aroma of grain
Left side is a contracted 5-stroke form of 皀, the food-vessel graph (a bowl of cooked grain emitting fragrance) - standalone 皀 has 7 strokes, so this is a fused contraction. It depicts the meal that has been served. The same vessel sits in the cousin character 即 'about to (eat)', the mirror image where the diner approaches rather than turns away.

Stroke Order

既 jì