练

Left silk radical — the indexing component. Original 練 meant 'to refine raw silk by repeated boiling and softening' over and over. From this literal craft came the abstract sense of refining a skill through repetition. A perfect etymology for the act of practice; same radical in 织 weave, 红 red, 线 thread.

Right side is a 5-stroke contracted form derived from cursive shorthand of the traditional 柬 (jiǎn) phonetic — visually shaped like 东 but functioning as a stylised placeholder, not the standalone 9-stroke 柬. The phonetic link is opaque in modern Mandarin (jiǎn → liàn); treat the right side as a written placeholder rather than a literal sound clue.