錬 means “refine, temper”

れん · ren

Also: tempering, drill, train

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ねる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

レン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 16 strokes

The story

Metal (金) beside 東: picture ore heated and hammered again and again until only the pure metal is left. 精錬 is refining, 鍛錬 is tempering body and mind, and 錬金術 is alchemy, as in 鋼の錬金術師, Fullmetal Alchemist.

Used in 鍛錬 (tanren, training/tempering), 精錬 (seiren, refining), and 錬金術 (renkinjutsu, alchemy)

More from Kiln & Forge

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• 鋳 cast
• 窯 kiln

Learn 錬 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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