Sinograph Addenda · Signs

而and-then · ér · and, and then, but — the clause-linker

and-then

Where it comes from

A drawing of a beard — whiskers under a chin — borrowed whole for the little word that joins classical clauses: “and, and then, but.” Rank five of the entire corpus; the beard’s meaning is long gone, the grammar is everywhere. Taught in the knowing-and-walking chapter.

How to remember it

Strokes hang off it like whiskers — but read and-then: whatever stands on its left leads to whatever follows on its right.

In the wild