若 ruò if
if; supposing; assuming; to seem; like
How it came to be
A kneeling figure, both hands in the hair, combing it straight. Making yourself neat for somebody else is where obeying comes from, and from obeying, the word for like, as and if.
用法
- A literary word doing two jobs: "if" - 倘若 (tǎngruò) / 若是 (ruòshì) if, 若干 (ruògān) a certain number; and "like/as" - 若无其事 (ruòwúqíshì) as if nothing happened, 若隐若现 (ruòyǐn-ruòxiàn) faintly visible.
- More formal than spoken 如果 (rúguǒ) "if" and 好像 (hǎoxiàng) "seem"; you meet 若 in writing and set phrases like 旁若无人 (pángruò-wúrén) as if no one else were around.