jiǎn​ruò HSK7

weaken

jiǎn decrease Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
bīng ice

is a component form of .

Sound component
xián all

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

ruò weak

Original meaning: urinate

Depicts two people urinating (尿). Based on the original meaning "urinate", now written as 尿/. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

尿
尿 Iconic component
niào urine
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 尿 than it was in ancient scripts.
尿
尿 Iconic component
niào urine
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 尿 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 3 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyaknewk weak

說文解字

《說文》:“弱,橈也,上象橈曲,彡象毛氂橈弱也。弱物并,故从二。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.705
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

jiǎn decrease Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Sound component
xián all

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartheamXm-kˤr[ə]mʔ abridge
keamXkˤr[ə]mʔ reduce

說文解字

《說文》:“減,損也。从水,咸聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica