等, 待 and 候 - differences?

[Mark Yong]

What are the differences in meaning (no matter how subtle) between 等, 待 and 候? Are there differences between 稍候 / 稍等, 等待 / 等候, etc.?

[hzh-fa]

in my everyday life i use 等/待 on the head of sentence.

and the 候 it basically use by word like 等候.and hardly in alone.

[YangDizi]

my everyday life i use 等/待 on the head of sentence.

and the 候 it basically use by word like 等候.and hardly in alone

等, 待,候 and all have the same meaning of "wait"; however, their usage is not the same.

If you are on the 'phone and are asked to wait, you are likely to hear "请稍等"; in slightly less formal situations, you might hear "（请）等（一）下（儿）".

In spoken Beijing Mandarin, one hears "待" far more than "等"; the two are synonomous but "等" is marginally more formal/standard in that it is the preferred verb in putonghua. A Beijinger is more likely to say "待（一）会（儿）我们去吃饭" than the standard putonghua "我们等一会儿去吃饭".

In standard putonghua, the difference in usage of "待" and "候" is:

待+verb, e.g. 待定

候+noun, e.g. 候车

[SWWLiu]

What are the differences in meaning (no matter how subtle) between 等' date=' 待 and 候? Are there differences between 稍候 / 稍等, 等待 / 等候, etc.?

[/quote']

I think the observations of YangDiZi are quite keen and incisive --

In standard putonghua' date=' the difference in usage of "待" and "候" is:

待+verb, e.g. 待定

候+noun, e.g. 候车

[/quote']

In addition, I think there is a subtle difference in the frequency and locale of usage between 稍候 and 稍等: As YangDiZi points out, in conversation you hear "请稍等" quite often, in direct face-to-face address or over the phone. However, for some reason "请稍候" appears, in my personal experience at least, mostly on paper and signs in public and seemingly almost never in conversation. Would anyone else like to explain or share his/her experiences on this?