柔

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

• 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

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.

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).

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)

(Jōyō kanji)

• 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)

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

/d͡ʑɨu/ → /d͡ʑuː/ → /ʑuː/

From Middle Chinese 柔 (MC nyuw).

• (Tokyo) じゅう [júꜜù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑɨː]

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

柔(じゅう) • (jū) ^{←じう (ziu)?}

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

• 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)

/nɨu/ → /ɲuː/

From Middle Chinese 柔 (MC nyuw).

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

柔(にゅう) • (nyū) ^{←にう (niu)?}

1. gentle, supple, weak
2. kindhearted

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

/jaɸa/ → /jawa/

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

• (Tokyo) やわ [yáꜜwà] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ja̠β̞a̠]

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

1. weak

• 柔(やわ)い (yawai)

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}}.

柔: Hán Nôm readings: nhu

柔

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