TSUMUGU · TOCFL B2 (est.) · 字
軟
ㄖㄨㄢˇ · ruǎn
adj — soft, pliable, weak
字源 FORM — what the parts do
≠the original sound-piece 耎 (ruǎn) collapsed into 欠 — the reading stays ruǎn
A cart (車) beside 欠 — but 欠 here is a worn-down 耎 ruǎn, "soft, pliant," which carried both the sense and the sound. The piece you see is 欠; the piece that means and sounds is the buried 耎. So: yielding, soft — 軟弱、柔軟. Set it against 硬, the stone-hard opposite.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
看著像欠，其實是耎（ruǎn）——一彎就軟下去，不硬。
What looks like 欠 is really the worn 耎 (ruǎn) — it bends, it gives, it will not stay hard.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)柔軟、軟硬— soft, pliable常用
→軟弱— weak, yielding常用
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
演 · Evolution
聲符 耎（ruǎn，柔軟）本來音、義兼管，抄寫日久磨成了今天看到的 欠。
The phonetic 耎 (ruǎn, pliant) supplied both meaning and sound, but copying wore it down to the plain 欠 you see today.