等

děng

rank, grade; to wait; equal; and so forth

Meaning

Equative: Equal, equivalent, the same.
Hierarchical: Rank, grade, level, or status.
Temporal: To wait; to stay in place until a certain time or event.
Enumerative: "Et cetera," and others of the same kind.

Grammar and usage

Equative: Often functions as a verb of parity (e.g., A 等 B).
Hierarchical: Functions as a noun (a position within a bureaucracy or social hierarchy) or as a classifier indicating quality or grade.
Temporal: Can be used intransitively or transitively (taking a person, time, or event as an object).

Distinctions

Contrast with 待: While often interchangeable in the sense of "waiting," 等 tends toward the passive act of letting time pass, whereas 待 can imply expectation or preparation.

Translator notes

When encountering 等 at the end of a list, determine if it is a simple enumerative ("etc.") or if it specifically refers to the rank or category of the people mentioned, thereby defining a collective class.

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