Example sentences
suī虽rán然guì贵，dàn但zhí值de得。
Expensive, but worth it.
suī虽rán然lèi累，hěn很kāi开xīn心。
Tired, but happy.
About this word
虽 is an old concessive meaning although or even if, and 然 means so or thus, the same 然 as in 当然. Together they read "though it is so", the standard way to open a concession. The habit to build is pairing: Chinese wants 虽然 in the first clause and 但是 or 可是 in the second, as in 虽然下雨了，但是我还是去了. English allows although with no but in sight, Chinese normally does not. 虽然 can also sit after the subject of its own clause: 他虽然很忙.
The story behind the character
虽
虽 started life as an animal. The traditional 雖 is 虫 (a creature) plus 唯 for the sound, and Xu Shen describes it as 似蜥蜴而大, like a lizard only bigger. A big lizard. Then it got borrowed to do the grammar job of "although," and the lizard was never seen again. The simplified 虽 kept 口 on top and 虫 below.
然
然 puts 灬 (fire) at the bottom and 肰 on top, and 肰 is 月 (here meaning flesh) plus 犬, a dog. Xu Shen wrote 然, 燒也: to burn. So the character you use for "so" and "correct" started out as meat over a fire. Once it got borrowed for those grammar jobs, people bolted a fresh 火 onto the side to build 燃 and win "burn" back.