正是 vs 便是? What is the difference? What is the etimology? As far as I know 正 should be regarded as "straight", so 正+是 (straight+true) which can be translated as "straight like" or "exactly as". But 便 should mean something like "handy" or "being handy". By the way you can see "a handle"(top)+ "a hand"(bottom) and "a man"(left) in the character itself. So what does 便是 exactly mean and what is the difference with 正是? 便是 should have some special connotation quiet different from 正是 or at least the were different in the old times. Yes I know the difference should be tiny. Please, refrain from stating that "they are equal". p.s. PLEASE, guys. I'm NOT interested in how 便是 can be changed into some other 即使纵然就是 and so on. I'm interested in WHAT WAY 便是 is DIFFERENT from all other such phrases.Guys thank you for your answers, but still your examples are not enoug. So what I can gather from your posts^ 1)便是 is more formal and used mainly in literature, articles. Not interesting because It does not uncover nature of 便. 2)正是 is 100% sure while 便是 is not 100%. Not interesting because it does not uncover the nature of 便. 3)便 is more like "so" rather than "straingt" or "then" or "just". Now THIS IS interesting.!!! If someone could read the article https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7f68zPex4RieXlKMzZNdV9Ndm8 then maybe we all will have interesting answers for this question. Thanks