How to Write 却 (què) — Meaning “but; yet; however; to retreat”

Picture a person kneeling (卩) who says "go away" (去) — that's a retreat. For the meaning "but," imagine you want to go (去) but someone kneels to stop you, creating a contrast. This visual story helps link both meanings to the shape.

Write the left part 去 first with 5 strokes: horizontal, vertical, horizontal, left-falling, dot; then the right part 卩 with 2 strokes: horizontal fold and vertical. Keep 去 wider than 卩 and make sure the vertical stroke in 卩 extends below the fold. A common mistake is making 去 too narrow or forgetting the dot at the end.

却 has 去 (five strokes) on the left and 卩 (two strokes) on the right, meaning "but" or "retreat." 卮 (zhī) looks like 厂 over 巳 and means an old wine cup, while 卯 (mǎo) is a pictograph of a door bolt and is a zodiac sign. Visually, 却 is wider because of 去, while 卮 is more compact and 卯 has an open top.

In everyday modern Chinese, 却 is most often used as an adverb meaning "but" or "yet" to show contrast, for example 虽然我很喜欢，却没有买 (Although I like it, I didn't buy it). It also appears in set phrases like 退却 (to retreat) or 忘却 (to forget), but these are less common in spoken language than the contrastive use.

Common words containing 却 include: 退却 (tuì què) — to retreat; to withdraw; 忘却 (wàng què) — To forget / to dismiss.