弱
weak; feeble; young; inferior; not as good as; (following a decimal or fraction) slightly less than
10 strokes
Dict coverage rank #1,218 U+5F31
How 弱 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
Two shoots 弓 dying to frost 冫
How to remember it
weak · Heisig RSH #1017
弓 bow + ice
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Characters built with 弱 as their sound component
These characters all use 弱 (ruò) as their phonetic component — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 弱 sound component | ruò | weak, fragile, delicate |
| 溺 | nì | to spoil, to pamper, to indulge; to drown |
| 搦 | nuò | to grasp, to seize; to challenge, to provoke |
| 蒻 | ruò | cattail; young rush |
Words containing 弱
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 文弱书生 | wén ruò shū shēng | (idiom) frail scholar |
| 体弱多病 | tǐ ruò duō bìng | prone to illness; sickly; in fragile health |
| 年老体弱 | nián lǎo tǐ ruò | old and weak (idiom) |
| 弱作用力 | ruò zuò yòng lì | the weak force (in particle physics) |
| 强将手下无弱兵 | qiáng jiàng shǒu xià wú ruò bīng | there are no poor soldiers under a good general (idiom) |
| 弱电统一 | ruò diàn tǒng yī | electro-weak interaction in fermion particle physics |
| 弱作用 | ruò zuò yòng | (physics) weak interaction |
| 弱肉强食 | ruò ròu qiáng shí | (lit.) the weak are prey to the strong (idiom); (fig.) the law of the jungle |
| 弱相互作用 | ruò xiāng hù zuò yòng | weak interaction (in particle physics); weak force |
| 弱不禁风 | ruò bù jīn fēng | (lit.) too weak to stand up to the wind (idiom); (fig.) extremely delicate; fragile |
| 国弱民穷 | guó ruò mín qióng | the country weakened and the people empoverished (idiom) |
| 弱势群体 | ruò shì qún tǐ | disadvantaged social groups (e.g. the handicapped); the economically and politically margi… |
| 以弱胜强 | yǐ ruò shèng qiáng | using the weak to defeat the strong (idiom); to win from a position of weakness |
| 弱小 | ruò xiǎo | small and weak; puny; the small and weak; children; women and children |
| 弱化 | ruò huà | weaken; make weaker |
| 体弱 | tǐ ruò | debility |
| 薄弱环节 | bó ruò huán jié | weak link; loophole |
| 弱点 | ruò diǎn | weak point; failing |
| 病弱 | bìng ruò | sick and weak; sickly; invalid |
| 色弱 | sè ruò | partial color blindness; color weakness |