既
Character Story & Explanation
既 is most commonly used today in the fixed conjunction 既然…就… (jìrán… jiù…), appearing frequently in spoken Mandarin, news reports, and official documents — e.g., government announcements like '既然政策已公布，各单位须严格执行' ('Since the policy has been announced, all units must strictly implement it'). It also appears in classical idioms such as 既往不咎 (jìwǎng-bùjiù, 'do not blame past mistakes'), documented since the Han dynasty in texts like the *Book of Rites*.
The character 既 is not pictographic. Its seal script form (circa 3rd c. BCE) shows a person turning away from food (radical 旡, jì — 'to finish eating'), symbolizing completion. This semantic core — 'the act is done' — evolved into the abstract adverbial meaning 'already' and the conjunctive 'since'. No oracle bone inscriptions of 既 survive; its earliest attested forms are in bronze inscriptions and Warring States bamboo slips.
Imagine walking into a bustling Beijing teahouse at noon. The waiter greets you with a warm smile and says, '您既来了，就先喝杯热茶吧！' — meaning 'Since you’ve already arrived, have some hot tea first!' Here, 既 (jì) marks a completed action that serves as the logical basis for what follows — not just ‘already’, but ‘already, therefore…’. It’s a quiet pivot point in Chinese logic, linking cause and effect with elegant economy.
This character rarely stands alone. It almost always appears in paired constructions like 既然…就… (jìrán… jiù…) — 'since… then…' — making it indispensable for expressing reasoned conclusions in daily speech, academic writing, or formal notices. Its grammatical weight far exceeds its modest nine strokes; it’s the linguistic hinge on which Chinese argumentation often turns.
For learners, mastering 既 is like unlocking a native speaker’s thought pattern: Chinese doesn’t just state facts — it constantly frames them in relation to prior conditions. When someone says 既然下雨了，我们改期吧, they’re not merely observing rain; they’re invoking an established reality to justify a decision. That subtle, pragmatic reasoning is embedded in every use of 既.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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