弱

Core sense is a lack of tension or strength. This manifests as:

• Physical Insufficiency: Feeble, frail, exhausted, or lacking vitality.
• Developmental State: The tenderness or vulnerability of youth (e.g., infants, children, or young plants).
• Social/Political Inferiority: A lack of power, leverage, rank, or authority.
• Aesthetic/Poetic Delicacy: Refinement, fragile grace, or pathos.

• Primary function: Adjective.
• Verbal use: May function as a verb meaning "to weaken" or "to diminish," particularly in later classical prose.
• Common Pairing: Often appears as 柔弱 (róuruò); in this pairing, the meaning often shifts toward flexibility and resilience through yielding.

Often contrasted with 強 (qiáng), meaning strong or stiff.

The glyph comprises two bows (弓), deriving from the sense of a bow that is slack or cannot hold its bend.

In texts influenced by Taoist thought, this glyph may not denote a negative attribute but rather a strategic advantage—the ability to yield to avoid breaking. In such contexts, consider "yielding" or "supple" over "weak."