软 (ruǎn): soft; flexible

Meanings

1 soft; flexible
2 weak; feeble
3 gentle; mild

Characters

软

ruǎn

soft; flexible; weak

Examples

这个枕头太软了。

Zhège zhěntou tài ruǎn le.

This pillow is too soft.

她说话的语气很软。

Tā shuōhuà de yǔqì hěn ruǎn.

Her tone of speaking is very gentle.

他腿一软，差点摔倒。

Tā tuǐ yī ruǎn, chàdiǎn shuāidǎo.

His legs went weak and he almost fell down.

这块肉煮得很软。

Zhèkuài ròu zhǔ de hěn ruǎn.

This piece of meat has been cooked until very tender.

Tips

usage

软 has both physical (soft texture) and figurative (weak, yielding) meanings. Opposite: 硬 (yìng, hard).

culture

心软 (xīnruǎn) means 'softhearted' — easily moved to sympathy.

culture

软硬兼施 (ruǎnyìngjiānshī) — 'use both soft and hard tactics' — a common strategy phrase in Chinese.

Components

radical

车 chē

cart; vehicle

Left 车 — the indexing cart radical (simplified from 車). The original referent was a cushioned, springy carriage that yielded under bumps — hence 'soft, yielding.' The cart-radical pulls 软 into the family of vehicle-related characters even though the modern meaning has drifted to general softness.

phonetic

欠 qiàn

to yawn; to lack

Right 欠 — historically the phonetic in 軟 (qiàn → ruǎn shows heavy drift, but the link is established). 欠 depicts a person bending forward with mouth open. Faint semantic echo: the bend / give of a yielding body. Same phonetic in 吹 chuī, 歌 gē — all built on 欠.