Dong Chinese dictionary

rèn, rén

responsibility

Original meaning:

to hold in arms

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 壬 represents the sound.

Components

亻 Meaning component

rén

person

亻 is a component form of 人.

壬 Sound component

rén

9th heavenly stem

Evolution

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

任

rèn

trust to, rely on, appoint; to bear, duty, office; allow; to assign; to appoint; to take up a post; office; responsibility; to let; to allow; to give free rein to; no matter (how, what etc); classifier for terms served in office, or for spouses, girlfriends etc (as in 前任男友)

任

Rén

surname Ren; Ren County 任縣|任县[RénXiàn] in Hebei

Most common words with 任