ren4

ren4 is the Mandarin Chinese pinyin representation for a syllable that carries the fourth (falling) tone. In standard pinyin, tones are often marked with diacritics (for example, rèn), but many learners and typing systems also use numeral notation such as ren4 to indicate the tone. The syllable ren can correspond to several different Chinese characters, so the exact meaning depends on the character used.

The fourth tone is a short, sharp falling pitch. When spoken in isolation, ren4 begins at a higher pitch and falls quickly. In connected speech, tone patterns can shift under certain contexts, but ren4 itself is categorized as a falling tone in Mandarin phonology.

Common characters that use the ren4 pronunciation include 任 (rèn) meaning “to appoint” or “duty,” 认/認 (rèn) meaning “to recognize, to admit,” and 韧 (rèn) meaning “tough” or “resilient” (as in 韧带, rèn dài, ligament). These characters illustrate how ren4 can convey different meanings across words, depending on the chosen character.

In linguistic and language-learning resources, ren4 is used to illustrate the fourth tone and to distinguish among homophonic syllables in Mandarin. Pinyin notation with numeric tone markers (ren4) and tone-marked forms (rèn) are both common practices in dictionaries, textbooks, and input methods. See also Pinyin, Mandarin Chinese, and Tone marks.