软 (ruǎn) · soft; flexible

Meanings

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

Characters

软

ruǎn

soft; flexible; weak

Examples

HSK 5

她说话的语气很软。

Tā shuōhuà de yǔqì hěn ruǎn.

Her tone of speaking is very gentle.

HSK 5

他腿一软，差点摔倒。

Tā tuǐ yī ruǎn, chàdiǎn shuāidǎo.

His legs went weak and he almost fell down.

HSK 5

这块肉煮得很软。

Zhè kuài 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.