嫩

nèn

HSK 2.0 Level 5 HSK 3.0 Level 7 Adjective Uncommon

Definitions

1. young and tender
2. (of food) tender; lightly cooked
3. (of color) light
4. (of a person) inexperienced; unskilled

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Word relationships

Antonyms

2 items

• 老 lǎo 老 lǎo prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity tender vs tough food: prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity
• 熟 shú 熟 shú ripe; mature lightly cooked vs well-done: ripe; mature

Synonyms

2 items

• 浅 qiǎn 浅 qiǎn shallow light color: shallow
• 生疏 shēng shū 生疏 shēng shū unfamiliar inexperienced: unfamiliar

Usage notes

Collocations

When describing food texture, 嫩 is often paired with 肉, e.g., 肉很嫩 (the meat is tender).

Common mistakes

Do not use 嫩 to mean 'young' for people's age; use 年轻 instead.

Example Sentences

2 shown

这块牛肉很 嫩 。

This piece of beef is very tender.

老牛吃 嫩 草。

Source: Tatoeba.org (ID 981877)

Sentence data courtesy of Tatoeba.org. AI-generated examples are marked with this icon.

Words Containing 嫩

• 嫩主 嫩主 nèn zhǔ: newbie
• 嫩绿 嫩绿 nèn lǜ: tender green; soft green
• 嫩芽 嫩芽 nèn yá: tender shoots
• 嫩苗 嫩苗 nèn miáo: seedling; tender young shoot; sprout
• 嫩叶 嫩叶 nèn yè: tender young leaves
• 娇嫩 娇嫩 jiāo nen: tender and lovely
• 巴尔克嫩德 巴尔克嫩德 bā ěr kè nèn dé: Jan Pieter Balkenende (1956-), prime minister of the Netherlands 2002-2010
• 柔嫩 柔嫩 róu nèn: tender
• 白嫩 白嫩 bái nèn: (of skin etc) fair
• 稚嫩 稚嫩 zhì nèn: young and tender
• 细嫩 细嫩 xì nèn: tender
• 细皮嫩肉 细皮嫩肉 xì pí nèn ròu: soft skin and tender flesh (idiom)
• 老牛吃嫩草 老牛吃嫩草 lǎo niú chī nèn cǎo: fig. a May-December relationship
• 脸皮嫩 脸皮嫩 liǎn pí nèn: bashful
• 装嫩 装嫩 zhuāng nèn: to act young
• 香娇玉嫩 香娇玉嫩 xiāng jiāo yù nèn: a beautiful woman
• 黎巴嫩 黎巴嫩 lí bā nèn: Lebanon