柔 means “soft, gentle, flexible”

やわらかい · yawarakai

Also: tender, weakness, gentleness, softness

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

やわらか, やわらかい, やわ, やわら

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ジュウ, ニュウ

JLPT N2 · Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

A spear (矛) with a shaft of springy wood (木): it bends under force and snaps back. 柔らかい is soft, and 柔道, judo, is "the gentle way", turning an opponent's force against them instead of meeting it head on.

Used in 柔らかい (yawarakai, soft), 柔道 (juudou, judo), and 柔軟 (juunan, flexible)

More from Hard & Soft

• 軟 soft
• 鋭 sharp
• 鈍 dull
• 清 pure
• 固 harden
• 豊 abundant
• 巨 giant
• 荒 rough
• 硬 hard

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