柔

柔 U+67D4, 柔 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-67D4 ← 染 [U+67D3] CJK Unified Ideographs 柕 → [U+67D5]

Translingual

Han character

柔 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 弓竹木 (NHD), four-corner 1790₄, composition ⿱矛木)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 519, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14622
• Dae Jaweon: page 907, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1192, character 2
• Unihan data for U+67D4

Chinese

trad.		柔
simp. #		柔

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 柔
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (矛) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
堥	*muː, *mu
蓩	*muːʔ, *moːɡ
猱	*ml'uː, *mljiwʔ, *ml'us
茅	*mruː
罞	*mruː, *muːŋ
蝥	*mruː, *mu, *mo, *moɡs
鶜	*mruː
瞀	*moːɡs, *mroːɡ
愗	*moːɡs
袤	*mus
雺	*mus, *mu, *muːŋ, *muːŋs
懋	*mus
楙	*mus
矛	*mu
蟊	*mu
髳	*mu, *muːŋ
鍪	*mu
鞪	*mu, *moːɡ
糅	*ml'us
腬	*ml'us, *mlju
柔	*mlju
揉	*mju
蹂	*mju, *mjuʔ, *mjus
鍒	*mju
騥	*mju
蝚	*mju
葇	*mju, *mjuʔ
鞣	*mju, *mjus
鰇	*mju
瑈	*mju
鶔	*mju
楺	*mjuʔ
煣	*mjuʔ, *mjus
輮	*mjuʔ, *mjus
韖	*mjuʔ
敄	*moʔ, *mos
務	*moɡs
鶩	*moɡs, *moːɡ
騖	*moɡs
婺	*moɡs
霚	*moɡs, *moːŋ
嵍	*moɡs
霧	*moɡs, *moːŋ
霿	*moːŋ, *moːŋs
楘	*moːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *mlju): phonetic 矛 (OC *mu) + semantic 木 (“tree”) – wood soft enough that it can easily be cut.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *now (“tender; soft”), which has also been compared to:

• 揉 (OC *mju, “knead, massage”)
• 懦 (OC *noːls, *njo, “pliant, cowardly”)
• 耎 (OC *njonʔ), 輭 (OC *njonʔ, “pliant, soft”)
• 肉 (OC *njuɡ, “meat”)
• 弱 (OC *njewɢ, “weak”)
• 荏 (OC *njɯmʔ, “weak”)
• 軟 (OC *njonʔ, “soft”)
• 孺 (OC *njos, “young and small”)

Outside of Sinitic, compare Burmese နူး (nu:, “tender”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007).

“ronto-”

Phono-semantic matching of English ronto-. Coined by the China National Committee for Terminology in Science and Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation on World Metrology Day in 2023 (20 May 2023).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): róu (rou²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄖㄡˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jau⁴
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): yù

  (Meixian, Guangdong): yu²

• Eastern Min (BUC): iù
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): liû / jiû

  (Teochew, Peng'im): riu⁵

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: róu
    • Zhuyin: ㄖㄡˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: róu
    • Wade–Giles: jou²
    • Yale: róu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: rou
    • Palladius: жоу (žou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʐoʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: jau⁴
    • Yale: yàuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jau⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: yeo⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐu̯²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yù
    • Hakka Romanization System: iu^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yiu²
    • Sinological IPA: /i̯u¹¹/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yù
    • Hakka Romanization System: (r)iu^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: yiu²
    • Sinological IPA: /(j)i̯u¹¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: yu²
    • Sinological IPA: /iu¹¹/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: iù
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ieu⁵³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Taipei)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: liû
    • Tâi-lô: liû
    • Phofsit Daibuun: liuu
    • IPA (Xiamen, Quanzhou, Taipei): /liu²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou, Kaohsiung)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: jiû
    • Tâi-lô: jiû
    • Phofsit Daibuun: jiuu
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /d͡ziu¹³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ziu²³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: riu⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: jiû
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /d͡ziu⁵⁵/

---

• Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 柔
Mandarin	Beijing	/ʐou³⁵/
	Harbin	/ʐou²⁴/
	Tianjin	/iou⁴⁵/ /ʐou⁴⁵/
	Jinan	/ʐou⁴²/
	Qingdao	/iou⁴²/
	Zhengzhou	/ʐou⁴²/
	Xi'an	/ʐou²⁴/
	Xining	/ʐɯ²¹³/
	Yinchuan	/ʐəu⁵³/
	Lanzhou	/ʐou⁵³/
	Ürümqi	/ʐɤu⁵¹/
	Wuhan	/nəu²¹³/
	Chengdu	/zəu³¹/
	Guiyang	/zəu²¹/
	Kunming	/ʐəu³¹/
	Nanjing	/ʐəɯ²⁴/
	Hefei	/ʐɯ⁵⁵/
Jin	Taiyuan	/zəu¹¹/
	Pingyao	/ʐəu¹³/
	Hohhot	/ʐəu³¹/
Wu	Shanghai	/zɤ²³/
	Suzhou	/zɤ¹³/
	Hangzhou	/zei²¹³/
	Wenzhou	/jɤu³¹/
Hui	Shexian	/iu⁴⁴/
	Tunxi
Xiang	Changsha	/iəu¹³/
	Xiangtan	/iəɯ¹²/
Gan	Nanchang
Hakka	Meixian	/iu¹¹/
	Taoyuan	/ʒiu¹¹/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/jɐu²¹/
	Nanning	/jɐu²¹/
	Hong Kong	/jɐu²¹/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/liu³⁵/
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/ieu⁵³/
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/iu²¹/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/zĩu⁵⁵/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/ziu²¹³/

---

• Middle Chinese: nyuw

Rime
Character	柔
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	日 (38)
Final (韻)	尤 (136)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	耳由切
Baxter	nyuw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ȵɨu/
Pan Wuyun	/ȵiu/
Shao Rongfen	/ȵʑiəu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ȵuw/
Li Rong	/ȵiu/
Wang Li	/ȵʑĭəu/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ȵʑi̯ə̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	róu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jau4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*nu/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mlju/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	柔
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	róu
Middle Chinese	‹ nyuw ›
Old Chinese	/*nu/
English	soft
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	柔
Reading #	1/1
No.	8825
Phonetic component	矛
Rime group	幽
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	柔
Old Chinese	/*mlju/

Definitions

柔

1. soft; supple
2. to soften
3. gentle; pliant
4. to make gentle
5. (～州) Short for 柔佛 (Róufó, “Johor”).
6. [from 2023] (Mainland China) ronto- (SI unit prefix)

   Synonym: 絨 / 绒 (róng) (Taiwan)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (柔):

• → Japanese: 柔(じゅう) (jū)
• → Korean: 유(柔) (yu)
• → Vietnamese: nhu (柔)

Compounds

• 以柔克剛 / 以柔克刚
• 以柔制剛 / 以柔制刚
• 俠骨柔腸 / 侠骨柔肠
• 優柔 / 优柔
• 優柔寡斷 / 优柔寡断 (yōuróuguǎduàn)
• 克柔
• 內柔外剛 / 内柔外刚 (nèiróuwàigāng)
• 剛柔 / 刚柔 (gāngróu)
• 剛柔並濟 / 刚柔并济
• 剛柔相濟 / 刚柔相济 (gāngróuxiāngjì)
• 吐剛茹柔 / 吐刚茹柔
• 善柔
• 外剛內柔 / 外刚内柔
• 外柔內剛 / 外柔内刚
• 嬌柔 / 娇柔 (jiāoróu)
• 懷柔 / 怀柔 (huáiróu)
• 摧剛為柔 / 摧刚为柔
• 柔中有剛 / 柔中有刚 (róuzhōngyǒugāng)
• 柔光鏡 / 柔光镜
• 柔克
• 柔化 (róuhuà)
• 柔和 (róuhé)
• 柔嘉
• 柔婉
• 柔媚 (róumèi)
• 柔嫩 (róunèn)
• 柔弱 (róuruò)
• 柔心弱骨
• 柔性勸導 / 柔性劝导
• 柔性憲法 / 柔性宪法
• 柔情 (róuqíng)
• 柔情密意
• 柔情萬千 / 柔情万千
• 柔情綽態 / 柔情绰态
• 柔懦
• 柔懦寡斷 / 柔懦寡断
• 柔握
• 柔日
• 柔枝嫩葉 / 柔枝嫩叶
• 柔柯
• 柔條 / 柔条
• 柔毫
• 柔滑
• 柔潤 / 柔润
• 柔然 (Róurán)
• 柔細 / 柔细 (róuxì)
• 柔美 (róuměi)
• 柔翰
• 柔聲 / 柔声
• 柔聲下氣 / 柔声下气
• 柔能克剛 / 柔能克刚
• 柔能制剛 / 柔能制刚
• 柔腸 / 柔肠 (róucháng)
• 柔腸寸斷 / 柔肠寸断 (róuchángcùnduàn)
• 柔腸百結 / 柔肠百结
• 柔腸百轉 / 柔肠百转
• 柔舌
• 柔色
• 柔若無骨 / 柔若无骨
• 柔荑 (róutí)
• 柔茹剛吐 / 柔茹刚吐
• 柔茹寡斷 / 柔茹寡断
• 柔術 / 柔术 (róushù)
• 柔軟 / 柔软 (róuruǎn)
• 柔軟體操 / 柔软体操
• 柔道 (róudào)
• 柔遠 / 柔远 (róuyuǎn)
• 柔遠能邇 / 柔远能迩
• 柔韌 / 柔韧 (róurèn)
• 柔順 / 柔顺 (róushùn)
• 柔麻
• 桑柔
• 溫柔 / 温柔 (wēnróu)
• 溫柔敦厚 / 温柔敦厚
• 溫柔鄉 / 温柔乡
• 玉柔
• 玉軟花柔 / 玉软花柔
• 細柔 / 细柔
• 繞指柔 / 绕指柔
• 纖柔 / 纤柔
• 腼腆溫柔
• 茹柔吐剛 / 茹柔吐刚
• 軟柔柔 / 软柔柔
• 輕柔 / 轻柔
• 輯柔 / 辑柔
• 鐵骨柔情 / 铁骨柔情
• 陰柔害物 / 阴柔害物
• 韋柔 / 韦柔

See also

SI prefix
Last		Next
攸/幺	絨/柔 / 绒/柔	匱/虧 / 匮/亏

Japanese

Kanji

柔

(Jōyō kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: にゅう (nyū, Jōyō)^{←にう (niu, historical)}
• Kan-on: じゅう (jū, Jōyō)^{←じう (ziu, historical)}
• Kun: やわらか (yawaraka, 柔らか, Jōyō)^{←やはらか (yafaraka, 柔らか, historical)}、やわらかい (yawarakai, 柔らかい, Jōyō)^{←やはらかい (yafarakai, 柔らかい, historical)}、やわらぐ (yawaragu, 柔らぐ)^{←やはらぐ (yafaragu, 柔らぐ, historical)}、やわらげる (yawarageru, 柔らげる)^{←やはらげる (yafarageru, 柔らげる, historical)}
• Nanori: とお (tō)^{←とほ (tofo, historical)}、なり (nari)、やす (yasu)、よし (yoshi)

Compounds

• 外(がい)柔(じゅう)内(ない)剛(ごう) (gaijūnaigō)
• 柔(やわ)柔(やわ) (yawayawa)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
柔
じゅう Grade: S
kan'on

/d͡ʑɨu/ → /d͡ʑuː/ → /ʑuː/

From Middle Chinese 柔 (MC nyuw).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) じゅう [júꜜù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑɨː]

Affix

柔(じゅう) • (jū) ^{←ぢう (diu)?}

1. gentle, soft, supple
2. calm, gentle, mild, peaceful
3. calm, relieve, soften
4. martial art involving gentleness, such as jujitsu or judo

Derived terms

• 柔(じゅう)弱(じゃく) (jūjaku)
• 柔(じゅう)術(じゅつ) (jūjutsu)
• 柔(じゅう)順(じゅん) (jūjun)
• 柔(じゅう)道(どう) (jūdō)
• 柔(じゅう)軟(なん) (jūnan)
• 温(おん)柔(じゅう) (onjū)
• 懐(かい)柔(じゅう) (kaijū)
• 剛(ごう)柔(じゅう) (gōjū)
• 優(ゆう)柔(じゅう) (yūjū)

Noun

柔(じゅう) • (jū) ^{←じう (ziu)?}

1. gentleness, softness, suppleness; also, such an object

Derived terms

• 柔(じゅう)細(さい)胞(ぼう) (jūsaibō)
• 柔(じゅう)組(そ)織(しき) (jūsoshiki)
• 柔(じゅう)懦(だ) (jūda)
• 柔(じゅう)突(とっ)起(き) (jūtokki)
• 柔(じゅう)毛(もう) (jūmō)

Idioms

• 柔(じゅう)能(よ)く剛(ごう)を制(せい)す (jū yoku gō o seisu)
• 柔(じゅう)も亦(また)茹(くら)わず剛(ごう)も亦(また)吐(は)かず (jū mo mata kurawazu gō mo mata hakazu)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
柔
にゅう Grade: S
goon

/nɨu/ → /ɲuː/

From Middle Chinese 柔 (MC nyuw).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にゅう [nyùú] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟ɨː]

Affix

柔(にゅう) • (nyū) ^{←にう (niu)?}

1. gentle, supple, weak
2. kindhearted

Derived terms

• 柔(にゅう)弱(じゃく) (nyūjaku)
• 柔(にゅう)和(わ) (nyūwa)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
柔
やわ Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
和

/jaɸa/ → /jawa/

Possibly a back-formation from 柔柔 (yawayawa, “soft, supple”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) やわ [yáꜜwà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ja̠β̞a̠]

Adjective

柔(やわ) • (yawa) ^{←やは (yafa)?}-na (adnominal 柔(やわ)な (yawa na), adverbial 柔(やわ)に (yawa ni))

1. weak

Derived terms

• 柔(やわ)い (yawai)

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term
柔
やわ(ら) Grade: S
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 柔 – see the following entry.

【柔やわら】 [adjective] something fragile, soft, or supple [adjective] something calm or gentle [noun] a martial art involving gentleness, such as judo or jujitsu [noun] (nautical) a straw bale lowered over the side as a fender Alternative spellings 和ら, 軟ら

(This term, 柔, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Korean

Hanja

柔 • (yu) (hangeul 유, revised yu, McCune–Reischauer yu, Yale yu)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

柔: Hán Nôm readings: nhu

Adjective

柔

1. chữ Hán form of nhu (“(of behavior and personality) soft; gentle”).

Derived terms

• 剛柔 (cương nhu)
• 柔弱 (nhu nhược)