柔韧
róu​rèn

pliable

柔 róu soft, flexible

Phonosemantic compound. 矛 represents the sound and 木 represents the meaning.

Components

矛
矛 Sound component
máo spear
Change in sound
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 5 verified)

揉蹂鞣糅猱

Meaning (0 of 2 verified)

揉鞣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartnyuwnu soft

說文解字

《說文》：“柔，木曲直也。从木，矛聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

韧 rèn strong and pliable Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 韦 represents the meaning and 刃 represents the sound. Simplified form of 韌.

Components

韦
韦 Meaning component
wéi, huí tanned leather
刃
刃 Sound component
rèn knife edge

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

韌 rèn strong and pliable Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 韋 represents the meaning and 刃 represents the sound.

Components

韋
韋 Meaning component
(surround a city), tanned leather
刃
刃 Sound component
rèn knife edge

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangnjɯns

說文解字

柔而固也。从韋刃聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)