但是
dànshì · HSK 2
but
但是 = 但 (only/just) + 是 (is) — 'only is' → but, however
但 alone means 'only/merely'; 是 means 'is/yes'. Together 但是 literally reads as 'only is' or 'just is', a contrastive hinge that flips the prior clause — English 'but/however'.
但 — person radical 亻 + dawn 旦
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning side and 旦 (dawn) supplies the sound. Originally it depicted a person baring the shoulder, an old sense preserved in 袒. Over time 但 was borrowed to write the function word meaning 'only' and later 'but'.
是 — sun 日 + 正 (correct/upright)
Originally a compound suggesting 'the sun 日 directly overhead'—straight, correct, true. From this concrete sense of 'right' or 'this very thing,' 是 came to mean 'this' as a demonstrative, and later the modern copula 'to be / is.' The 'correct' meaning survives in words like 是非 (right and wrong).
dàn shì · HSK 2
but
但 = only + 是 = is; 'only is' → 'but it is', signals contrast
但 (dàn) means 'only/merely' and 是 (shì) means 'is/to be'. Together 但是 literally reads as 'only is...', a fixed pairing that introduces a contrasting clause, like English 'but'.
但 — person radical 亻 + dawn 旦
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning side and 旦 (dawn) supplies the sound. Originally it depicted a person baring the shoulder, an old sense preserved in 袒. Over time 但 was borrowed to write the function word meaning 'only' and later 'but'.
是 — sun 日 + 正 (correct/upright)
Originally a compound suggesting 'the sun 日 directly overhead'—straight, correct, true. From this concrete sense of 'right' or 'this very thing,' 是 came to mean 'this' as a demonstrative, and later the modern copula 'to be / is.' The 'correct' meaning survives in words like 是非 (right and wrong).