銳

• Physical: The quality of being sharp, pointed, or acute; specifically the functional ability to pierce or cut.
• Military/Kinetic: The "edge" of an attack; refers to the vanguard, elite strike forces, or the penetrating momentum of an assault.
• Mental/Sensory: Acuity, keenness, and perceptive alertness; often implies a piercing or aggressive precision in thought or observation.

Functions predominantly as an adjective or a noun (referring to the "sharp point" or "vanguard").

• vs 鋒 (fēng): While 鋒 refers specifically to the physical tip or point of a weapon, 銳 typically denotes the quality of sharpness or the resulting capability and force.
• vs 敏 (mǐn): Both can imply "quickness," but 敏 emphasizes agility and speed of response, whereas 銳 emphasizes the precision and penetration of that response.
• vs 尖 (jiān): 尖 describes purely geometric pointedness and lacks the functional implication of cutting or piercing inherent in 銳.

Simplified variant: 锐 (U+9510).

Rooted in metallurgy (金), denoting a functional capacity to cut rather than a mere shape.

This glyph is rarely used as a verb meaning "to sharpen"; for that specific action, 磨 (mó) or 砥 (dǐ) are the standard terms.