软和
ruǎn​huo

gentle

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

和 hé, huo, he harmony

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 禾 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
禾
禾 Sound component
hé grain stalk

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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 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-Sagarthwa[ɢ]ˤoj harmonious
hwaH[ɢ]ˤoj-s tune (instruments); respond in singing

說文解字

《說文》：“咊，相譍也。从口，禾聲。”

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)

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