揉 (róu): to knead, to massage, to rub

揉 (róu) is a Chinese character meaning “to knead.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (structural) and 柔 (structural). It ranks #2643 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 揉 a gentle 柔 hand 扌; 柔 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to knead
  2. to massage
  3. to rub

Etymology & Origin

揉

ideographicA gentle 柔 hand 扌; 柔 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰扌柔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
揉搓verbróu cuoto rub
矫揉造作phrasejiǎo róu zào zuòpretension
眼里揉不得沙子yǎn lǐ róu bu dé shā zisee 眼裡容不得沙子|眼里容不得沙子
众说纷揉zhòng shuō fēn róulit. diverse opinions confused and divided (idiom)
揉和verbróu héto knead (clay)
揉合róu héto blend
揉制róu zhìto knead (leather)
掰开揉碎bāi kāi róu suìlit. to pull apart and knead to a pulp
揉碎róu suìto crush
揉磨verbróu moto torment
搓揉verbcuō róuto knead
11
Total compounds
55
As first character
18
As last character
27
As middle character

揉 appears in 11 compound words: 55 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 27 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 揉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

腐fǔ
0.72114 co-occurrences
搓cuō
0.712338 co-occurrences
冤yuān
0.70610 co-occurrences
痒yǎng
0.66410 co-occurrences
豆dòu
0.62014 co-occurrences
矫jiǎo
0.567100 co-occurrences
捏niē
0.541114 co-occurrences
喊hǎn
0.47911 co-occurrences
乳rǔ
0.448172 co-occurrences
疑yí
0.43911 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

掰开揉碎bāi kāi róu suìHSK 7+

lit. to pull apart and knead to a pulp; fig. to analyze minutely from every angle; to chew sth over

phrase
矫揉造作jiǎoróuzàozuòHSK 7+

affected; artificial; fakey

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

揉照镜子,整理一下自己的仪容。

róu zhào jìng zǐ , zhěng lǐ yī xià zì jǐ de yí róng .

Adjust your appearance by looking in the mirror.

爱范儿Aug 2026

我们不想把充电器做成冷冰冰的砖头,试图将前沿科技与美学揉进大家的日常生活。

wǒ men bù xiǎng bǎ chōng diàn qì zuò chéng lěng bīng bīng de zhuān tóu , shì tú jiāng qián yán kē jì yǔ měi xué róu jìn dà jiā de rì cháng shēng huó .

We don’t want to make chargers that look like cold, lifeless bricks; instead, we aim to weave cutting-edge technology and aesthetics into everyone’s daily lives.

SmzdmApr 2026

免揉鲜奶吐司配方与制作指南

miǎn róu xiān nǎi tǔ sī pèi fāng yǔ zhì zuò zhǐ nán

No-Knead Fresh Milk Bread Recipe and Instructions

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

揉眼睛很危险!23岁女红痒忍不住 检查惊见...

róu yǎn jīng hěn wēi xiǎn ! 2 3 suì nǚ hóng yǎng rěn bù zhù jiǎn chá jīng jiàn . . .

Rubbing your eyes is dangerous! A 23-year-old woman couldn't resist the itch—and what she found during her exam was shocking...

LtnMar 2026

当众对女学生揉胸摸私处 狼师重判定谳将入监服刑

dāng zhòng duì nǚ xué shēng róu xiōng mō sī chǔ láng shī chóng pàn dìng 谳 jiāng rù jiān fú xíng

Predatory teacher who groped a female student’s chest and private parts in public has been sentenced to prison

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...异能》金度勋疑吃Karina豆腐!被目击揉她手指 亲喊冤:我手痒

. . . yì néng jīn dù xūn yí chī K a r i n a dòu fǔ ! bèi mù jī róu tā shǒu zhǐ qīn hǎn yuān : wǒ shǒu yǎng

... "Superpower" Kim Do-hoon is suspected of eating Karina tofu! was witnessed rubbing her fingers and shouting injustice: My hands itch

Tatoeba

爱,就是一个人把另一个人的心揉碎的过程。

ài, jiùshì yīgèrén bǎ lìngyī gèrén de xīn róusuì de guòchéng.

Love is the process of breaking and mending the heart of another.

Tatoeba

手脏的时候千万不要揉眼睛。

Shǒu zāng de shíhou qiānwàn bù yào róu yǎnjing.

Never rub your eyes with dirty hands.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced róu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 揉 (róu) mean in Chinese?
揉 (róu) primarily means "to knead." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2643 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 揉 have?
揉 is written with 12 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 揉?
The radical associated with 揉 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 揉?
揉 is composed of: 扌 (structural), 柔 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌柔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 揉?
Common words with 揉 include: 揉搓 (róu cuo, "to rub"); 矫揉造作 (jiǎo róu zào zuò, "pretension"); 眼里揉不得沙子 (yǎn lǐ róu bu dé shā zi, "see 眼裡容不得沙子|眼里容不得沙子"); 众说纷揉 (zhòng shuō fēn róu, "lit. diverse opinions confused and divided (idiom)"); 揉和 (róu hé, "to knead (clay)"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 揉 (róu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation róu: 肉 (meat), 柔 (soft). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 揉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 揉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 揉 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.