且

qiě

moreover, also; about to, will soon

Meaning

  • Additive/Cumulative: "moreover," "also," "furthermore."
  • Prospective: "about to," "will soon."
  • Provisional: "for the time being" or "temporarily"; suggesting a pause or a smaller action to be completed before the main course of action proceeds.

Grammar and usage

  • Pre-verbal: Indicates an action is imminent or on the verge of occurring.
  • Post-subject: Functions as an adverb or conjunction to layer reasons, attributes, or arguments.

Distinctions

Contrast with 又: while 又 typically denotes repetition or a separate instance, 且 is cumulative, adding weight to a preceding point.

Translator notes

Avoid flattening the glyph into a simple "and." Meaning is generally determined by position: pre-verbal suggests temporal imminence, while post-subject suggests rhetorical addition.

Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the glyph means in a particular passage.