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荏

Mandarin · pinyin rěn

beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens)
soft
weak

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荏: rěn · beans; soft, pliable; herb

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3 · ren3

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1character link8same-tone records

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jam3 · jam5 · jam6

Cantonese word readings for 荏. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) perilla (Perilla frutescens)
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) a kind of big bean; big
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) soft; weak; yielding

character · Etymology 2

(of a person or body) weak; feeble; frail
(of a thing) bad; poor in quality
(of a thing) unstable

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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