继

• Pinyin: jì
• Hanzi breakdown: 继 = 纟+ 㐄 (silk thread + continuation strokes — connecting and carrying on a broken line)

Meaning

To continue; to follow; to succeed. To carry on from where something left off, or to take over from a predecessor in a position or undertaking.

Appears in key compounds: 继续 (to continue), 继承 (to inherit/succeed), 继任 (to succeed to a post), 继而 (subsequently). Classical in register and common in formal writing, historical narrative, and literary prose.

Examples

1. 老院长退休后，由他一手培养的学生继任院长一职，延续了学院的学术传统。 After the old dean retired, a student he personally trained took over as dean, carrying on the school’s academic traditions.
2. 她继承父亲的遗志，继续致力于那片荒漠的生态修复工作，一干就是二十年。 She carried on her father’s unfulfilled wishes and continued working on ecological restoration in that desert for twenty years.
3. 前任负责人离职后，团队顺利完成了工作交接，项目得以无缝衔接地推进下去。 After the previous person in charge resigned, the team smoothly completed the handover, allowing the project to move forward seamlessly.

Usage Guide

Context: succession, continuity, leadership, heritage

Tone: formal

Do Say

• 学者关注创始人的核心价值观如何通过制度和文化传给继任者，使组织在换帅后仍保持战略稳定。(Scholars focus on how a founder's core values can be passed on to successors through systems and culture, so the organisation remains strategically stable after a leadership change.)
• 这位指挥家去世后，其子继承衣钵，不仅完整保存了父亲所有未发表的音乐手稿，更将其整理出版，使这批珍贵的音乐遗产得以传世并惠泽后人。(After the conductor's death, his son took over his mantle, not only preserving all of his father's unpublished musical manuscripts intact, but also sorting and publishing them so that this precious musical legacy could be passed down to benefit future generations.)

Don't Say

• 继 alone vs 继续 — 继 as a standalone verb is literary and classical; in modern speech, use 继续 to mean 'to continue'. Do not say 我们继做 — say 我们继续做 instead

Origin & History

继 = 纟+ 㐄 (silk thread + joined continuation strokes — reconnecting and continuing a broken thread)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal