也
surname Ye; also; too; as well; (not ...) either; (used after a verbal or nominal expression X to indicate that X is an extreme or unexpected case) even (X); (literary) particle having functions similar to 啊[a5]
Closest English meanings
also·too·as well
The Calligrapher — Huáng Xiàng 皇象
Wu-kingdom master of 'chapter cursive' (zhangcao); his Jijiu Zhang is its standard model.
三国吴 calligrapher (生卒年不详（三国吴）), master of clerical cursive — known for 《急就章》松江本. Wu kingdom (Three Kingdoms)
Cultural Story
也 is the sentence-final particle that gave classical statements their settled close, the indeed at the end of a clause. The 論語 uses it to seal a truth, 不朽也. Originally it may have marked a pause or an expansion. It is the period with a breath, the sound of a thought laid down and not taken back, the grammatical calm of the mastered line.
Common words & phrases
- 也许 perhaps · maybe
- 也罢 let it be · whatever
- 也是 also is · too
- 也好 may as well · also good
- 也门 Yemen
Read the story behind the character
也许 is the hedge in every forecast; 也是 the agreement, 我也是. 也罢 is the sigh of giving up; 也好 the shrug of consent. 也门 is Yemen, the one proper noun that wandered in. The particle sense is gone from speech, but the character lives in these compounds, the register of possibility and resignation, the maybe, the me-too, the let it be.
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