Chinese symbol for “however”
然而
rán ér
however; but; yet
The closest CC-CEDICT match for however is 然而 (rán ér), defined as: however; but; yet.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “however”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 但是 | dàn shì | but; however |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 却 (卻) | què | but; yet |
| 不过 (不過) | bù guò | only; merely |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 然而.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 虽然 (雖然) | suī rán | although; even though (often used correlatively with 可是 (kě shì) or 但是 (dàn shì) etc) |
| 然后 (然後) | rán hòu | then; after that; afterwards |
| 当然 (當然) | dāng rán | only natural; as it should be |
| 自然 | zì rán | nature; natural |
| 仍然 | réng rán | still; as before; yet |
| 而且 | ér qiě | (not only ...) but also; moreover; in addition; furthermore |
| 而是 | ér shì | rather |
| 从而 (從而) | cóng ér | thus; thereby |
See also: Japanese symbol for “however”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.