Meaning & readings
tender, weakness, gentleness, softness
On’yomi ジュウ、ニュウ
Kun’yomi やわ.らか、やわ.らかい、やわ、やわ.ら
Nanori とお
Origin
This character combines a spear (矛) on top with wood (木) below. The spear represents something hard and rigid, while wood represents something natural and flexible. Together, these parts suggest the contrast between hardness and the yielding softness of wood—capturing the idea of something that bends rather than breaks. Over time, the character came to mean gentleness and tenderness in general, qualities associated with that flexible, giving quality.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 75
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1187 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+067D4