Dictionary › 阮

阮

ruǎn

Character

What 阮 means

1. ruan, a four-stringed Chinese lute

Other readings

阮 is 多音字 — it is read more than one way, and the reading changes the meaning.

• Ruǎnsurname Ruan; small state during the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC) located in the southeast

Words starting with 阮

• 阮元Ruǎn Yuánscholar-official in the Qing dynasty (1764-1849)
• 阮安Ruǎn ĀnNguyen An (1381-1453), aka Ruan An, Vietnamese architect and engineer, principal designer…
• 阮崇武Ruǎn Chóng wǔRuan Chongwu (1933-), third governor of Hainan
• 阮晋勇Ruǎn Jìn yǒngNguyễn Tấn Dũng (1949-), prime minister of Vietnam 2006-2016
• 阮咸ruǎn xiánsee 阮
• 阮琴ruǎn qínsee 阮

Words containing 阮

• 中阮zhōng ruǎnzhongruan or alto lute, like pipa 琵琶 but bigger and lower range
• 大阮dà ruǎndaruan or bass lute, like pipa 琵琶 and zhongruan 中阮 but bigger and lower range

Characters built on 元

These share the phonetic component 元 (yuán), which is why their readings rhyme. Learning them as a family is far cheaper than learning them one at a time.

• 远yuǎnfar; distant; remote
• 园yuánland used for growing plants; site used for public recreation…
• 沅YuánYuan river in Guizhou and Hunan
• 朊ruǎnprotein
• 鼋yuánsea turtle
• 蚖yuánProtura (soil dwelling primitive hexapod); variant of 螈, salamander; newt

Characters that look like 阮

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 犯fànto violate; to offend; to assault
• 批pīto ascertain; to act on; to criticize
• 抗kàngto resist; to fight; to defy
• 抚fǔto comfort; to console; to stroke
• 阪bǎnslope; hillside
• 陇Lǒngshort name for Gansu 甘肃

Sounds the same

Read ruǎn, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 软soft; flexible
• 朊protein
• 瓀opaque; white quartz
• 碝jade-like stone
• 緛(archaic) to shorten
• 耎old variant of 软
• 礝old variant of 碝