(rén): humane, kernel

(rén) is a Chinese character meaning “humane.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1352 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a caring relationship between two 二 people 亻. Its radical form (person) appears in many related characters such as (rén, person), (shén, what), (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. humane
  2. kernel

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA caring relationship between two 二 people 亻

Decomposition: ⿰亻二 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
rén cíbenevolent
xìng rénalmond
guǒ rénfruit kernel
rén àibenevolence
rén xiōng(honorific written address) My dear friend
chéng rénto die for a good cause
rén chuānIncheon Metropolitan City in Gyeonggi Province 京畿道[Jing1 ji1 dao4], South Korea
tóng rén(formal) colleague
hé rénnucleolus (within nucleus of cell)
xiā rénshrimp meat
rén yìbenevolence and righteousness
jiàn rén jiàn zhìopinions differ (idiom)
yù rénHirohito, personal name of the Shōwa 昭和[Zhao1 he2] emperor of Japan (1901-1989), reigned 1925-1989
hé tao rénwalnut kernel
sōng rénpine nuts
100
Total compounds
28
As first character
43
As last character
29
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 28 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 29 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

wěi
0.62622,914 co-occurrences
xiào
0.54732,070 co-occurrences
bài
0.48924,438 co-occurrences
zhì
0.48529,352 co-occurrences
0.46810,554 co-occurrences
0.46612,880 co-occurrences
zōng
0.45839,352 co-occurrences
怀huái
0.4256,858 co-occurrences
0.42132,928 co-occurrences
chuān
0.42026,514 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

dāngrénbùràngHSK 7+

to be unwilling to pass on one's responsibilities to others

phrase
fùrénzhīrénHSK 7+

soft-hearted

phrase
GāngrénbōqíHSK 7+

Mount Kailash (a mountain in Ngari prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China)

jiǎrénjiǎyìHSK 7+

to feign benevolence

phrase
jiànrénjiànzhìHSK 7+

different people have different views; opinions differ; there's no accounting for taste

phrase
rénrénjūnzǐHSK 7+

benevolent gentleman; public-spirited person; philanthropist

phrase
rénrénzhìshìHSK 7+

people with lofty ideas

phrase
rénzhìyìjìnHSK 7+

to have helped or cared for to the greatest extent

phrase
xìngrén dòufuHSK 7+

annin tofu; almond tofu

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这位老虽然年过八旬,但身体依然硬朗。

zhè wèi lǎo rén suī rán nián guò bā xún , dàn shēn tī yī rán yìng lǎng .

Though over eighty years old, this gentleman remains in robust health.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

勋称英伟达成为“全球最大网络公司” 当中...

huáng rén xūn chèn yīng wěi dá chéng wéi quán qiú zuì dà wǎng lào gōng sī dāng zhōng . . .

Huang Jensheng called Nvidia "the world's largest network company" Among them...

LtnFeb 2026

独家》台日友好!中坜海宫信众 跨海为高市早苗点灯祈福

dú jiā tái rì yǒu hǎo ! zhōng 坜 rén hǎi gōng xìn zhòng kuà hǎi wéi gāo shì zǎo miáo diǎn dēng qí fú

Exclusive" Taiwan-Japan friendship! Believers in Zhongli Renhai Palace crossed the sea to light lamps and pray for Sanae in Gaoshi

Vietnam+Feb 2026

跻身全球四大热门趋势旅游目的地之列

guī rén 跻 shēn quán qiú sì dà rè mén qū shì lǚ yóu mù de dì zhī liè

Quy Nhon is among the top 4 trending tourist destinations in the world

EttodayFeb 2026

密宗灌顶变性骚! 佛大硕生被波切狂摸下体:在吸收秽气

mì zōng guàn dǐng biàn xìng sāo ! fó dà shuò shēng bèi rén bō qiē kuáng mō xià tǐ : zài xī shōu huì qì

Tantric empowerment transsexuality! The Buddha Da Shuo Sheng was wildly touched by Rinpoche's lower body: absorbing the filthy air

東方日報Feb 2026

66岁生日 拟春季视察三县重建

dé rén 6 6 suì shēng rì nǐ chūn jì shì chá sān xiàn chóng jiàn

Deren's 66th birthday plans to inspect the reconstruction of the three counties in the spring

Tatoeba

加入蜂蜜,柠檬汁,切碎的杏和切碎的苹果。

Jiārù fēngmì, níngméngzhī, qiēsuì de xìngrén hé qiēsuì de píngguǒ.

Add the honey, lemon juice, chopped almonds and the chopped apples.

Tatoeba

汤姆试图敲碎一颗核桃而不损坏果

Tāngmǔ shìtú qiāo suì yī kē hétao ér bù sǔnhuài guǒrén.

Tom tried to crack a walnut without damaging its kernel.

Tatoeba

梅纳德买了一些杏奶。

Méinàdé mǎi le yīxiē xìngrén nǎi.

Mennad bought some almond milk.

Tatoeba

我遇到的人都很慈。

Wǒ yùdào de rén dōu hěn réncí.

The people whom I meet are kind.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced rén

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 仁 (rén) mean in Chinese?
仁 (rén) primarily means "humane." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1352 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 仁 have?
仁 is written with 4 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 仁?
The radical associated with 仁 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 仁?
仁 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 二 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻二 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 仁?
Common words with 仁 include: 仁慈 (rén cí, "benevolent"); 杏仁 (xìng rén, "almond"); 果仁 (guǒ rén, "fruit kernel"); 仁爱 (rén ài, "benevolence"); 仁兄 (rén xiōng, "(honorific written address) My dear friend"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 仁 (rén)?
Several characters share the pronunciation rén: 人 (person), 忍 (to bear), 认 (to recognize, to admit), 任 (task, to appoint), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 仁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 仁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.