ruan

See also: Ruan, ruán, ruàn, Ruán, ruǎn, ruan2, and ruan3

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 阮.

Noun

ruan (plural ruans)

1. (music) A type of Chinese plucked string instrument with a fretted neck, and a family of related instruments.

Synonyms

• ruanqin (mainly in reference to Taiwan)

Hyponyms

• daruan (bass)
• diyinruan (contrabass)
• gaoyinruan (soprano)
• xiaoruan (alto)
• zhongruan (tenor)

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of chordophones

Anagrams

• Arun, uran-, urna

---

Mandarin

Romanization

ruan

1. Nonstandard spelling of ruán.
2. Nonstandard spelling of ruǎn.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

---

Tiruray

Noun

ruan

1. mudfish