ruan

Borrowed from Mandarin 阮 (short for 阮咸, ruǎnxián).

ruan (plural ruans)

1. (music) A Chinese long-necked fretted round-bodied plucked lute which has, since the mid-20th century, been produced in a family of five sizes (from low to high).

• ruanqin (mainly in reference to Taiwan)

• gaoyinruan (soprano)
• xiaoruan (alto)
• zhongruan (tenor)
• daruan (bass)
• diyinruan (contrabass)

• Appendix:Glossary of chordophones

• urna, naur, Arun, uran-, Uran

ruan

1. nonstandard spelling of ruán
2. nonstandard spelling of ruǎn

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

ruan

1. mudfish