却

㕁/卻

què

卩 + 去

HSK 2.0Level 4

HSK 3.0Level 4

Definitions

què (adverb) but; yet; however; nevertheless

què (verb) to decline; to reject

què (verb) to retreat; to go back

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 卩 represents the meaning and 去 represents the sound. Simplified form of 卻.

Semantic: 卩 Phonetic: 去

About

The traditional character 卻 combines the valley radical 谷 with the kneeling person radical 卩. Its modern form 却 pairs the semantic component 去 (to go away) with 卩. Initially, it described physical actions like retreating, stepping down, or refusing an offer. Over time, this notion of withdrawal developed into a common grammatical particle, serving as an adversative conjunction to express contrast, meaning "but", "yet", or "however", to signal a contrary turn in a sentence.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

我很累，却睡不着。

Wǒ hěn lèi, què shuì bù zháo.

I am very tired, but I can't sleep.

他明明知道，却不说。

Tā míngmíng zhīdào, què bù shuō.

He clearly knows, but he doesn't say.

天气很热，我却觉得冷。

Tiānqì hěn rè, wǒ què juéde lěng.

The weather is hot, but I feel cold.

她虽然年轻，却很有经验。

Tā suīrán niánqīng, què hěn yǒu jīngyàn.

Although she is young, she is very experienced.

我努力学习了，成绩却不好。

Wǒ nǔlì xuéxí le, chéngjì què bù hǎo.

I studied hard, but my grades are not good.

他嘴上答应得快，行动却总是拖延。

Tā zuǐ shang dāyìng de kuài, xíngdòng què zǒng shì tuōyán.

He agrees quickly with his words, but his actions are always delayed.

这本书看起来很难，读起来却很有趣。

Zhè běn shū kàn qǐlái hěn nán, dú qǐlái què hěn yǒuqù.

This book looks difficult, but it is interesting to read.

尽管面临诸多挑战，他却从未放弃自己的梦想。

Jǐnguǎn miànlín zhūduō tiǎozhàn, tā què cóngwèi fàngqì zìjǐ de mèngxiǎng.

Despite facing many challenges, he never gave up on his dream.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 卩

Component: 去

却