仁 rén
: humaneness; kindness, benevolence
Kun Reading
人 hito: person
On Reading
仁 | じん jin
noun
: benevolence; compassion; humanity
仁 | にん nin
noun
: kernel
に ni
仁愛[爱] ren2’ai4: benevolence; charity; compassion [じんあい jinai]
仁慈 ren2ci2: benevolent; charitable; kind [じんじ jinji]
仁德 ren2de2: benevolent; integrity [仁徳 | じんとく jintoku]
仁義[义] ren2yi4: benevolence & righteousness; affable & even-tempered
[じんぎ jingi: humanity & justice; (yakuza’s) moral code
不仁 bu4ren2: heartless [ふじん fujin: heartlessness; inhumanity]
Japanese
仁道 | じんどう jindou: the path that one should follow as a human being; the path of benevolence
親仁 | おやじ oyaji: one’s father; old man; one’s boss
Chinese idiom/saying
仁民愛物 ren2 min2 ai4 wu4: love to all creatures (from Mencius 孟子): universal benevolence
仁義道德 ren2 yi4 dao4 de2: compassion, duty, propriety and integrity: all the traditional virtues; mainly used sarcastically, to mean hypocritical
寬大仁愛 [宽大仁爱] kuan1 da4 ren2 ai4: tolerant and lenient
為仁不富 [为]: the rich man cannot be benevolent (from Mencius 孟子). It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24).
仁者見[见]仁，智者見智 ren2 zhe3 jian4 ren2 , zhi4 zhe3 jian4 zhi4
: The benevolent sees benevolence, the wise sees wisdom: Different views are admissible.
好學近乎知，力行近乎仁，知恥近乎勇
hao4 xue2 jin4 hu5 zhi1 , li4 xing2 jin4 hu5 ren2 , zhi1 chi3 jin4 hu5 yong3
to love learning is akin to knowledge, to study diligently is akin to benevolence, to know shame is akin to courage (Confucius)
Japanese idiom/expression
身を殺して仁を為す | みをころしてじんをなす mi o koroshite jin o nasu
: to do an act of benevolence at the sacrifice of oneself
会意 Associative Compound.
Relationship between
man亻(ren2: person; radical 9) and his
fellow man 二 (er4: two).
仁 ren2 and 人 ren2 (human): are cognates. The “two” radical then is a reclassification. The “two” is often explained philosophically: “two” = “another, other” and kindness is the most important virtue toward others.
形声 Pictophonetic.
二 (er4: two) suggests the meaning while
亻 (ren2: person; radical 9) provides the sound.
Historical Variant.
忈
Examples:
杏仁能吃嗎？
xing4ren2 neng2 chi1 ma?
Are kernels of apricots edible?
我深深地被她的仁慈所感動。
wo3 shen1shen1 de bei4 ta1 de ren2ci2 suo3 gan3dong4.
I am greatly moved by her kindness.
Resources: Chinese Dictionary | Japanese Dictionary
