软肋
ruǎn​lèi

rib cartilage

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

肋 lē, lèi, jīn ribs

Phonosemantic compound. ⺼ represents the meaning and 力 represents the sound.

Components

⺼
⺼ Meaning component
ròu meat, flesh

⺼ is a component form of 肉.

力
力 Sound component
lì, li power

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

筋

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlok[r]ˤəkrib
Zhengzhangrɯːɡ

說文解字

脅骨也。从肉力聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
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