(rèn): task, to appoint

(rèn) is a Chinese character meaning “task, to appoint.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #186 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, person. Its radical form (person) appears in many related characters such as (rén, person), (shén, what), (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. task, to appoint

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻壬 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
pronounrèn héany4
nounrèn wumission4
verbxìn rènto trust5
nounzé rènresponsibility4
nounzhǔ rèndirector5
verbdān rènto hold a governmental office or post5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qián rènpredecessor
shèng rènqualified
rèn mìngto appoint
rèn yìany
fàng rènto ignore
rèn xìngwillful
xià rènnext office holder
shàng rènto take office
xīn rènnewly-appointed
rèn zhíto hold a post
xiàn rènto occupy a post currently
rèn yóuto let (sb do sth)
rèn qīterm of office
lián rènto continue in (a political) office
zhòng rènheavy responsibility
100
Total compounds
43
As first character
54
As last character
3
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 43 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 3 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.

dān
0.710718,275 co-occurrences
0.667772,527 co-occurrences
xiè
0.55196,012 co-occurrences
jiān
0.547275,478 co-occurrences
0.545416,388 co-occurrences
zhǔ
0.5321,156,086 co-occurrences
0.522341,204 co-occurrences
céng
0.519495,732 co-occurrences
mìng
0.517404,910 co-occurrences
0.485122,995 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

lì bù shèng rènHSK 5+

not to be up to the task (idiom); incompetent

phrase
lián dài zé rènHSK 4+

to bear joint responsibility for sth; joint liability (law)

phrase
mínshì zérènHSK 4+

civil liability

noun
rèn láo rèn yuànHSK 5+

to work hard without complaint (idiom)

phrase
rènrénwéiqīnHSK 5+

to appoint people by favouritism; nepotism

phrase
rènrénwéixiánHSK 7+

to appoint people based on merit; meritocracy

verbnoun
rènrénzǎigēHSK 7+

to be at the mercy of others; cannot but allow oneself to be trampled on by others

phrase
使rèn xián shǐ néngHSK 7+

to appoint the virtuous and use the able (idiom); appointment on the basis of ability and integrity

phrase
wěi rèn tǒng zhìHSK 6+

mandate (territory administration)

phrase
zérèn bǎoxiǎnHSK 4+

liability insurance

noun
zé rèn shì gùHSK 4+

accident occurring due to negligence

phrase
zìyóufàngrènHSK 4+

laissez faire; to allow unrestrained freedom

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他被命为项目经理,负责协调各部门的工作。

Tā bèi rènmìng wéi xiàngmù jīnglǐ, fùzé xiétiáo gè bùmén de gōngzuò.

He was appointed as project manager, responsible for coordinating the work of various departments.

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

沙特阿拉伯前官员:何对伊朗的军事打击都将是一场代价高昂的豪...

shā tè ā lā bó qián guān yuán : rèn hé duì yī lǎng de jūn shì dǎ jī dōu jiāng shì yī chǎng dài jià gāo áng de háo . . .

Former Saudi Arabian official: Any military strike on Iran will be a costly hero...

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

美贸易代表:尚无何国家说退出关税协议

měi mào yì dài biǎo : shàng wú rèn hé guó jiā shuō tuì chū guān shuì xié yì

USTR: No country has said it has withdrawn from the tariff agreement

百度新闻Feb 2026

王楠出内蒙古乒乓球队主教练

wáng 楠 chū rèn nèi méng gǔ pīng pāng qiú duì zhǔ jiào liàn

Wang Nan becomes head coach of Inner Mongolia table tennis team

百度新闻Feb 2026

苏翊鸣:能为中国代表团拿下首金,意义比何事情都重..

sū 翊 míng néng wéi zhōng guó dài biǎo tuán ná xià shǒu jīn , yì yì bǐ rèn hé shì qíng dū chóng . .

Su Yiming: It means more than anything to get the first gold for the Chinese delegation...

百度新闻Feb 2026

伊朗总统:伊朗愿就其核工业和平性质接受何形式核查

yī lǎng zǒng tǒng yī lǎng yuàn jiù qí hé gōng yè hé píng xìng zhì jiē shòu rèn hé xíng shì hé chá

Iranian President: Iran is willing to accept any form of verification regarding the peaceful nature of its nuclear industry.

Tatoeba

你有何淡啤酒吗?

Nǐ yǒu rènhé dànpí jiǔ ma?

Do you have any light beer?

Tatoeba

你对何药物过敏吗?

Nǐ duì rènhé yàowù guòmǐn ma?

Are you allergic to any medicine?

Tatoeba

何给我的讯息吗?

Yǒu rènhé gěi wǒ de xùnxī ma?

Are there any messages for me?

Tatoeba

你提供何全日游吗?

Nǐ tígōng rènhé quán rì yóu ma?

Do you offer any all-day tours?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced rèn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 任 (rèn) mean in Chinese?
任 (rèn) primarily means "task, to appoint." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #186 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 任 have?
任 is written with 6 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 任?
The radical associated with 任 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 任?
任 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 壬 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻壬 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 任?
Common words with 任 include: 任何 (rèn hé, "any"); 任务 (rèn wu, "mission"); 信任 (xìn rèn, "to trust"); 责任 (zé rèn, "responsibility"); 主任 (zhǔ rèn, "director"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 任 (rèn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation rèn: 饪 (cooked food), 人 (person), 仁 (humane), 忍 (to bear), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 任 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 任 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.