卻

卻 (Kangxi radical 26, 卩+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 金口尸中 (CRSL), four-corner 8762₀, composition ⿰谷卩(GHTKV) or ⿰𧮫卩(J))

• 𠊬, 𠶸, 𢔱, 𢜭, 腳, 𦃁, 𧍕, 𨍖, 𤷽
• 㮝 (Exception: Only for mainland China. Taiwan character form contains 郤 instead)

• 却 (Preferred form used in mainland China and Japan)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 159, character 28
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2867
• Dae Jaweon: page 365, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 317, character 2
• Unihan data for U+537B

Historical forms of the character 卻
Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kaɡ, *kʰaɡ): phonetic 𧮫 (jué) + semantic 卩.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

卻

1. to withdraw; to retreat

   退卻／退却  ―  tuìquè  ―  to retreat

2. (literary) to drive back (enemy)

   卻敵／却敌  ―  quèdí  ―  to drive back an enemy

3. to decline; to refuse

   推卻／推却  ―  tuīquè  ―  to decline

4. (particle placed after monosyllabic verbs) to do away with

   忘卻／忘却  ―  wàngquè  ―  to forget

   了卻／了却  ―  lequè  ―  to end

   • 瑜駭然曰：「此人有奪天地造化之法，鬼神不測之術！若留此人，乃東吳禍根也。及早殺卻，免生他日之憂。」
     瑜骇然曰：「此人有夺天地造化之法，鬼神不测之术！若留此人，乃东吴祸根也。及早杀却，免生他日之忧。」

     From: Romance of the Three Kingdoms (translation by Yu Sumei)

     Yú hàirán yuē: “Cǐ rén yǒu duó tiāndì zàohuà zhī fǎ, guǐshén bùcè zhī shù! Ruò liú cǐ rén, nǎi Dōngwú huògēn yě. Jí zǎo shāquè, miǎn shēng tārì zhī yōu.”

     In consternation Zhou Yu said, "This man has snatched some method from the creative force of Heaven and earth, some unfathomable technic from the world of departed spirits. Why allow him to remain among us and cause trouble, when his elimination would save such great grief?"

5. (only sentence-medially) but; yet; however

   簡單卻有效的方法
   简单却有效的方法

   jiǎndān què yǒuxiào de fāngfǎ

   simple yet effective way

   我喜歡你，卻不敢表達。
   我喜欢你，却不敢表达。

   Wǒ xǐhuān nǐ, què bùgǎn biǎodá.

   I love you, but I do not have the courage to express it.

   • 經過三天三夜5次大手術，杜富國從死亡線上被救了回來，但卻永遠地失去了雙手和雙眼。
     经过三天三夜5次大手术，杜富国从死亡线上被救了回来，但却永远地失去了双手和双眼。

     From: 程煥 (August 13 2021) ““排雷英战士”杜富国——永不停下奋斗的脚步事”, in People's Daily (in Chinese), page 4

     Jīngguò sān tiān sān yè 5 cì dà shǒushù, Dù Fùguó cóng sǐwángxiàn shàng bèi jiù le huílái, dàn què yǒngyuǎn de shīqù le shuāngshǒu hé shuāngyǎn.

     After 5 major surgeries in three days, Du Fuguo was saved from the verge of death, but yet had permanently lost his arms and eyes.

• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A00457
• “卻”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• (Min Nan) “卻”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. alternative form of 却 (“instead; on the contrary”)

• Kan-on: きゃく (kyaku)
• Kun: しりぞく (shirizoku, 卻く)、しりぞける (shirizokeru, 卻ける)、かえって (kaette, 卻って)

卻 (eum 각 (gak))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

卻: Hán Nôm readings: khước

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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