How to Write 荏 (rěn) — Meaning “Perilla; soft”

Imagine "grass" (艹) that is "soft" and easily bent, like a perilla plant. The bottom part 任 can be thought of as "any" — so remember that this plant is soft and yields to any touch. This links the visual to the meaning "soft" or "yielding."

The top part 艹 must be written with three strokes: horizontal, vertical, vertical (not the vertical-vertical-horizontal order of some grass radicals). The lower part 任 has a left radical 亻 (person) and right part 王, but note the last horizontal of 王 is slightly longer. Common mistake is to make the top grass too wide or to misplace the vertical strokes.

兹 (cí, zī) has two 玄 components stacked and means "this" or "now," while 芈 (mǐ) is a phonetic character used in ancient names and looks like a sheep with a tail. 荏 has the grass radical over 任, so it is wider and flatter. Visually, 荏 is the only one with the 任 component below.

荏 appears in the common idiom 色厉内荏 (sè lì nèi rěn), describing someone who looks fierce but is actually weak inside. It is also used in 荏苒 (rěn rǎn) to describe time passing quickly, often in literary or formal writing. These expressions add a poetic or descriptive nuance to everyday language.

Common words containing 荏 include: 荏苒 (rěn rǎn) — (Time) passing quickly; 色厉内荏 (sè lì nèi rěn) — fierce in appearance but weak inside; 荏弱 (rěn ruò) — Weak; delicate.