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Definition 2025

而

而

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

而 (radical 126 而+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 一月中中 (MBLL), four-corner 10227, composition ⿱⿱一丿⿵冂⿰丨丨)

  1. Kangxi radical #126, ⽽ ‎(“and”).

References

  • KangXi: page 961, character 18
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28871
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1409, character 17
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2810, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+800C

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 而

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 而
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (而) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
耐 *nɯːs
耏 *nɯːs, *njɯ
而 *njɯ
鮞 *njɯ, *njuɡ
鴯 *njɯ
栭 *njɯ
陑 *njɯ
峏 *njɯ
輀 *njɯ
胹 *njɯ
洏 *njɯ
髵 *njɯ
恧 *nɯɡ, *nuɡ

Pictogram (象形) – a beard. Original form of 耏 (OC *nɯːs, *njɯ) or 髵 (OC *njɯ).

Pronunciation

  • Dialectal data▼
Variety Location 而
Mandarin Beijing /əɻ³⁵/
Harbin /ɚ²¹³/
Tianjin /əɻ⁴⁵/
Jinan /əɻ⁴²/
Qingdao /əɻ⁵⁵/
/ɭə⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /ɭ⁴²/
Xi'an /əɻ²¹/
Xining /ɛ²⁴/
Yinchuan /əɻ⁵³/
Lanzhou /ɯ⁵³/
Ürümqi /ɚ⁵¹/
Wuhan /ɯ²¹³/
Chengdu /əɻ³¹/
Guiyang /ɚ²¹/
Kunming /ə³¹/
Nanjing /əɻ²⁴/
Hefei /a⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /əɻ¹¹/
Pingyao /əɻ¹³/
Hohhot /aɻ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /əl²³/
Suzhou /əl¹³/
Hangzhou /əl²¹³/
Wenzhou /zz̩³¹/
Hui Shexian /ɛ⁴⁴/
Tunxi /ə⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /ə¹³/
Xiangtan /e¹²/
Gan Nanchang /ɵ⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /i¹¹/
Taoyuan
Cantonese Guangzhou /ji²¹/
Nanning /ji²¹/
Hong Kong /ji²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /li³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /i⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /œ²¹/
Shantou (Min Nan) /zɯ⁵⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /lɛ²¹³/
Rime
Character 而
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 日 (38)
Final (韻) 之 (19)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 如之切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /ȵɨ/
Pan
Wuyun		 /ȵɨ/
Shao
Rongfen		 /ȵʑie/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /ȵɨ/
Li
Rong		 /ȵiə/
Wang
Li		 /ȵʑĭə/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /ȵʑi/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 ér
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 而
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 ér
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ nyi ›
Old
Chinese		 /*nə/
English and, but

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 而
Reading # 1/1
No. 2720
Phonetic
component		 而
Rime
group		 之
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 而
Old
Chinese		 /*njɯ/

Definitions

而

  1. and
    偉大而艱巨的任務 [MSC, trad.]
    伟大而艰巨的任务 [MSC, simp.]
    wěidà ér jiānjù de rènwù [Pinyin]
    a great and arduous task
  2. and yet; but; nevertheless
    有其名而無其實 / 有其名而无其实  ―  yǒu qí míng ér wú qíshí  ―  in name but not in reality
  3. (from ...) to ...
  4. used between an adverbial element and a verb to indicate cause, purpose or manner

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

而

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

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Readings

  • Goon: に (ni)
  • Kan’on: じ (ji)
  • Kun: しこうして (shikōshite), しかして (shikashite), しかれども (shikaredomo)

Korean

Hanja

而 • ‎(i) (hangeul 이, revised i, McCune-Reischauer i, Yale i)

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Vietnamese

Han character

而 (nhi)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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