还 (hái) · still; yet

Meanings

1 still; yet
2 also; in addition
3 even more
4 fairly; passably

Characters

还

hái

still; yet; also; even more

Examples

HSK 1

你还在吗？

Nǐ hái zài ma?

Are you still here?

HSK 1

他还会说日语。

Tā hái huì shuō Rìyǔ.

He also speaks Japanese.

HSK 2

今天比昨天还冷。

Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān hái lěng.

Today is even colder than yesterday.

Tips

mistakes

Same character 还 has a second reading 还 meaning 'to give back / return' (as in 还书 return a book, 还钱 pay back money). The adverb sense - still, yet, also, even more - is always hái. Context picks the reading: as an adverb before a verb / adjective, it is hái; as a verb taking an object, it is huán.

usage

Four core senses, all hái: (1) continuation - 他还在睡觉 (he's still sleeping); (2) addition - 我还要一杯 (I want another one); (3) intensification with 比 - 他比我还高 (he's even taller than me); (4) understatement / passability - 还行 (it's okay), 还可以 (not bad). Each is unmissable in everyday speech.

Components

radical

辶 chuò

walk; movement (left-form)

Walking radical, the simplified left-and-bottom-wrapping form of 辵. It supplies the meaning: motion along a road, going. The same radical anchors a large movement family: 进 (advance), 远 (far), 近 (near), 通 (pass through), and 道 (road). The hái sense - 'still / yet' - is a metaphorical extension: the action keeps going.

phonetic

不 bù

not (here phonetic)

Inner 不 supplies the sound for simplified 还 - bù shifted to hái / huán, with significant drift. The simplified form replaced the much more complex traditional 還 (which had 睘 inside, the original phonetic) with just 不 to keep the character writable. The 'not' meaning of 不 is incidental - it is read here purely for its sound value.