練 means “practice, train, refine”

れん · ren

Also: gloss, drill

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
ねる, ねり
On'yomi (Chinese reading)
レン

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 3 · 14 strokes

The story

Thread (糸) picked over and sorted (柬): raw silk boiled and worked until it turned soft and white, the old sense of 練. Skill is made the same way: 練習 is practice, 訓練 is drilled training, and 練る is to knead dough or polish a plan.

Used in 練習 (renshuu, practice), 訓練 (kunren, training/drill), and 練る (neru, to knead/refine)

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.