鞣
róu

tan

To soften 柔 leather 革; 柔 also provides the pronunciation

Components

革
革 Meaning component
gé leather
柔
柔 SoundMeaning component
róu soft, flexible

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangmju
mjus

說文解字

耎也。从革从柔，柔亦聲。

Sources

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