而 (ér): and; but; yet

Meanings

1 and; but; yet
2 while; whereas
3 connecting modifier to verb

Characters

而

ér

and; but; yet; while

Originally a pictograph of a beard - now purely a grammatical connector with no trace of its original meaning.

Examples

HSK 1

我想去，而他不想去。

Wǒ xiǎng qù, ér tā bù xiǎng qù.

I want to go, but he doesn't.

HSK 5

他很聪明而且很努力。

Tā hěn cōngming érqiě hěn nǔlì.

He is smart and hardworking.

HSK 6

因困难而放弃是不对的。

Yīn kùnnan ér fàngqì shì bú duì de.

Giving up because of difficulty is wrong.

Tips

grammar

而 is a literary conjunction. In the pattern 因A而B, it means 'because of A, B happens.' In A而B with adjectives/verbs, it means 'but/yet.' More formal than 但是.

usage

Common compounds: 而且 (moreover), 然而 (however), 而已 (that's all), 从而 (thereby). 而 adds a literary or formal tone.

Components

pictograph

而 ér

beard; whiskers (original); and; but (modern)

Self-component - 而 is itself Kangxi radical #126. The oracle-bone form depicted a chin with three or four hanging beard hairs: the top horizontal is the chin, the inner verticals are whiskers. Borrowed very early on for the conjunction 'and; but,' losing the beard meaning. Indexes 耐, 耍, and (historically) 需.

Radical

Beard; And Kangxi #126

A tiny indexing radical. The character 而 is grammatically essential as a literary conjunction, but as a meaning radical the group is almost empty — 耍 (play around) and 耐 (endure) are the main entries filed under it, and even there 而 is structural rather than semantic. Productivity essentially zero.