软呢
ruǎn​ní

soft wool fabric

软 ruǎn flexible, soft, weak Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 车 represents the meaning and 耎 represents the sound. Simplified form of 軟.

Components

车
车 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
欠
欠 Simplified component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

欠 is shorthand for the phonetic 耎 component in the variant character 輭.

Sources

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

呢 ne, ní interrogative or emphatic final

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 尼 represents the sound. 口 (mouth) indicates that the character is only "mouthed", i.e. only used for its phonetic value.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
尼
尼 Sound component
ní, nǐ Buddhist nun

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangnil

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

軟 ruǎn flexible, soft, weak Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the meaning and 耎 represents the sound.

Components

車
車 Meaning component
chē cart, vehicle
耎
耎 Simplified component
ruǎn, nuò flexible, soft, weak

欠 is shorthand for the phonetic 耎 component in the variant character 輭.

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangnjonʔ
Unicodenjiuɛ̌n

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica