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Chinese Radicals
The building blocks of Chinese characters
What are radicals?
Chinese characters are made up of strokes and components. When you break a character down into its different parts, the most basic components are referred to as radicals. Traditionally, radicals have been used as one of the methods to look characters up in a dictionary.
What's the difference between a radical and a character?
Radicals are essentially one component, whereas characters can be composed of one or many components. Some radical forms are also one component characters, such as 馬 which is not only the character for horse, but also is used as a radical in other characters such as 騎 meaning to ride.
Why are there "simplified" and "traditional" lists?
Both lists show the same radicals, however the ordering is slightly different. For example, the radical for fish 魚 has 11 strokes in traditional characters (used in Taiwan), whereas in simplified characters (used in China) it is written with 8 strokes.
Should I learn about radicals?
If you are interested in learning about Chinese characters, knowing some of the more common radicals is definitely useful. Not only do radicals make remembering and recognising characters easier, they also to help you to break down and understand new characters. Saying that, don't get obsessed with them and hang scrolls on your wall etc. ;)
1 stroke
2 strokes
- 二 two
- 亠 lid
- 人 𠂉 亻 person
- 儿 legs
- 入 enter
- 八 丷 eight
- 冂 borders
- 冖 cover
- 冫 ice
- 几 table
- 凵 container
- 刀 ⺈ 刂 knife
- 力 power
- 勹 wrap
- 匕 spoon
- 匚 box
- 匸 enclosure
- 十 ten
- 卜 divination
- 卩 㔾 kneel
- 厂 cliff
- 厶 private
- 又 again
3 strokes
- 口 mouth
- 囗 enclosure
- 土 earth
- 士 scholar
- 夊 夂 stroll
- 夂 夊 march
- 夕 evening
- 大 big
- 女 woman
- 子 孑 child
- 宀 roof
- 寸 inch
- 小 ⺌ small
- 尢 兀 尣 lame
- 尸 corpse
- 屮 sprout
- 山 mountain
- 巛 巜 川 river
- 工 work
- 己 已 巳 self
- 巾 scarf
- 干 shield
- 幺 short
- 广 shelter
- 廴 stride
- 廾 two hands
- 弋 shoot
- 弓 bow
- 彐 彑 snout
- 彡 bristle
- 彳 step
- 丬 爿 splinter
- 门 門 gate
- 飞 飛 fly
- 马 馬 horse
4 strokes
- 心 ⺗ 忄 heart
- 戈 halberd
- 戶 户 door
- 手 扌 龵 hand
- 支 branch
- 攴 攵 tap
- 文 literature
- 斗 fight
- 斤 axe
- 方 square
- 无 旡 negative
- 日 sun
- 曰 say
- 月 moon
- 木 tree
- 欠 owe
- 止 stop
- 歹 歺 death
- 殳 lance
- 毋 母 do not
- 比 compare
- 毛 hair
- 氏 clan
- 气 steam
- 水 氵 氺 water
- 火 灬 fire
- 爪 爫 claw
- 父 father
- 爻 intertwine
- 片 slice
- 牙 fang
- 牛 ⺧ 牜 cow
- 犬 犭 dog
- 见 見 see
- 贝 貝 shell
- 车 車 car
- 长 長 镸 long
- 韦 韋 leather
- 风 風 wind
5 strokes
- 玄 dark
- 玉 王 jade
- 瓜 melon
- 瓦 tile
- 甘 sweet
- 生 life
- 用 甩 use
- 田 field
- 疋 ⺪ cloth
- 疒 sickness
- 癶 footsteps
- 白 white
- 皮 skin
- 皿 dish
- 目 eye
- 矛 spear
- 矢 arrow
- 石 stone
- 示 礻 sign
- 禸 track
- 禾 grain
- 穴 cave
- 立 stand
- 鸟 鳥 bird
- 龙 龍 dragon
6 strokes
- 竹 ⺮ bamboo
- 米 rice
- 糸 糹 纟 silk
- 缶 jar
- 网 罒 net
- 羊 ⺶ sheep
- 羽 feather
- 老 耂 old
- 而 beard
- 耒 plow
- 耳 ear
- 聿 ⺻ 肀 brush
- 肉 ⺼ meat
- 臣 minister
- 自 self
- 至 arrive
- 臼 mortar
- 舌 tongue
- 舛 chaotic
- 舟 boat
- 艮 limit
- 色 colour
- 艸 艹 grass
- 虍 虎 tiger
- 虫 insect
- 血 blood
- 行 go
- 衣 衤 clothes
- 襾 西 覀 cover
- 页 頁 page
- 齐 齊 even
7 strokes
- 角 horn
- 言 訁 讠 speech
- 谷 valley
- 豆 bean
- 豕 pig
- 豸 cat
- 赤 red
- 走 on foot
- 足 ⻊ foot
- 身 body
- 辛 bitter
- 辰 morning
- 辵 辶 walk
- 邑 阝 town
- 酉 wine
- 釆 divide
- 里 village
- 卤 鹵 salt
- 麦 麥 wheat
- 龟 龜 turtle