然而

Chinese

		so; thus; like this so; thus; like this; ‑ly; correct; right	and; as well as; but (not) and; as well as; but (not); yet (not); (shows causal relation); (shows change of state); (shows contrast)
trad. (然而)		然	而
simp. #(然而)		然	而

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): rán'ér

  (Zhuyin): ㄖㄢˊ ㄦˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jin⁴ ji⁴

• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): liân-lî / jiân-jî

  (Teochew, Peng'im): riang⁵ re⁵ / riêng⁵ re⁵

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: rán'ér
    • Zhuyin: ㄖㄢˊ ㄦˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: rán-ér
    • Wade–Giles: jan²-êrh²
    • Yale: rán-ér
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ranerl
    • Palladius: жаньэр (žanʹer)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐän³⁵ ˀɤɻ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: jin⁴ ji⁴
    • Yale: yìhn yìh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jin⁴ ji⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: yin⁴ yi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jiːn²¹ jiː²¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: liân-lî
    • Tâi-lô: liân-lî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lienlii
    • IPA (Xiamen, Quanzhou): /liɛn²⁴⁻²² li²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: jiân-jî
    • Tâi-lô: jiân-jî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: jienjii
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /d͡ziɛn¹³⁻²² d͡zi¹³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: riang⁵ re⁵ / riêng⁵ re⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: jiâng jṳ̂ / jiêng jṳ̂
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /d͡ziaŋ⁵⁵⁻¹¹ d͡zɯ⁵⁵/, /d͡zieŋ⁵⁵⁻¹¹ d͡zɯ⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: nyen nyi

Rime
Character	然	而
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	日 (38)	日 (38)
Final (韻)	仙 (77)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	如延切	如之切
Baxter	nyen	nyi
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ȵiᴇn/	/ȵɨ/
Pan Wuyun	/ȵiɛn/	/ȵɨ/
Shao Rongfen	/ȵʑjæn/	/ȵʑie/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ȵian/	/ȵɨ/
Li Rong	/ȵiɛn/	/ȵiə/
Wang Li	/ȵʑĭɛn/	/ȵʑĭə/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȵʑi̯ɛn/	/ȵʑi/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	rán	ér
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jin4	ji4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[n]a[n]  nə/

  (Zhengzhang): /*njen  njɯ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	然	而
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	rán	ér
Middle Chinese	‹ nyen ›	‹ nyi ›
Old Chinese	/*[n]a[n]/	/*nə/
English	so, thus; (adv suffix)	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	然	而
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	10756	2720
Phonetic component	肰	而
Rime group	元	之
Rime subdivision	2	0
Corresponding MC rime	然	而
Old Chinese	/*njen/	/*njɯ/

Conjunction

然而

1. but; yet

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 但是 (“but; however”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		而, 然, 但, 卻, 則
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		但是, 但, 可是, 不過, 然而
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	但是, 但, 可是, 不過
	Malaysia	但
	Singapore	但, 但是, 可是, 不過
Southwestern Mandarin	Pematangsiantar	tapi
Cantonese	Guangzhou	但係, 不過, 之不過, 之但係
	Hong Kong	但係, 不過, 之不過, 之但係, but
	Taishan	但係
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	但係
	Singapore (Guangfu)	但係, 不過, 之不過
Hakka	Meixian	但係, 董係
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	但係, 毋過
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	但係, 毋過, 毋故
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	但係, 毋過
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	但係, 毋過
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	但係, 毋過
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	毋過
	Senai (Huiyang)	但係
	Kuching (Hepo)	tapi
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	但是
	Matsu	但是
Southern Min	Xiamen	但是, 毋過, 毋句, 不過, 不而過
	Quanzhou	但是, 毋句, 不過, 不而過
	Zhangzhou	但是, 毋過, 不過, 不而過
	Taipei	但是, 毋過, 不而過
	Penang (Hokkien)	tapi, 但是
	Singapore (Hokkien)	tapi, 但是, 毋句, 毋過
	Manila (Hokkien)	但是, 毋句, 毋過
	Medan (Hokkien)	tapi
	Shantou	是呾
	Shantou (Chenghai)	是呾
	Jieyang	是呾, 比補
	Bangkok (Teochew)	但是, แต่ว่า
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	但是, tapi
	Singapore (Teochew)	tapi, 不過, 但是
	Wenchang	但是
	Qionghai	但是
Wu	Shanghai	但是, 必過, 不過, 但不過, 但必過
	Wuxi	但必過