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

你还在吗？

Nǐ hái zài ma?

Are you still here?

我还想吃一个。

Wǒ hái xiǎng chī yí ge.

I still want to eat one more.

他还会说日语。

Tā hái huì shuō Rìyǔ.

He also speaks Japanese.

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.