Kickstart Character Learning With These 25 Most Common Radicals

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It may be tedious, but learning your radicals (偏旁 piān páng) is one of the best "hacks" available to students of Chinese to eventually master the language. As well as having a semantic connection with the character, indicating what a character may mean or relate to, they also provide the closest approximation to an "alphabet" in Chinese, allowing students to look up characters in dictionaries as arranged by radical and number of strokes.

No matter your mandarin level, memorizing radicals helps you to better understand character definitions as well as how to write and recall them, thus easing the overall learning process.

Below we've listed 25 of the most commonly occurring radicals (of the 214 in use) to help you get your radical learning off the ground and hopefully provide a little help next time you come across a word you're unfamiliar with.

If you want to dig deeper into characters and their composite characters, zhongwen.com can provide an enlightening and somewhat addictive way to break down each word and scour their meanings by radical or other elements.

亻- 单人旁 dān rén páng

Semantic indication: man, person

Examples: 你 nǐ you, 做 zuò do

刂 - 立刀旁 lì dāo páng

Semantic indication: knife

Examples: 刮 guā scratch, shave; 别 bié depart

忄- 竖心旁 shù xīn páng

Semantic indication: heart

Examples: 情 qíng emotions

扌- 提手旁 tí shǒu páng

Semantic indication: hand

Examples: 打 dǎ punch, 拉 lā pull, 推 tuī push

讠- 言字旁 yán zì páng

Semantic indication: talk

Examples: 说 shuō talk, 话 huà words

彳- 双人旁 shuāngrén páng

Semantic indication: walking, road

Examples: 行 xíng walk, 往 wǎng towards

犭- 反犬旁 fǎn quǎn páng

Semantic indication: animals

Examples: 狗 gǒu dog, 狼 láng wolf, 猫 māo cat

氵- 三点水旁 sān diǎn shuǐ páng

Semantic indication: water

Examples: 海 hǎi sea, 河 hé river, 洗 xǐ wash

口 - 口字旁 kǒu zì páng

Semantic indication: mouth

Examples: 吹 chuī blow, 吃 chī eat

阝- 耳朵旁 ěrduǒ páng

Semantic indication: hill, rising and falling

Examples: 陷阱 xiànjǐng trap

纟- 绞丝旁 jiǎo sī páng

Semantic indication: silk, weaving

Examples: 绳 shéng rope, 线 xiàn thread

辶 or 走 - 走之旁 zǒu zhī páng

Semantic indication: walk

Examples: 道 dào road, 近 jìn close to; or 赶 gǎn hurry, 起 qǐ stand up

木 - 木字旁 mù zì páng

Semantic indication: wood

Examples: 树 shù tree, 枝 zhī branch

女 - 女字旁 nǚ zì páng

Semantic indication: feminine

Examples: 妈 mā mother, 她 tā she

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⻊- 足字旁 zú zì páng

Semantic indication: foot

Examples: 踢 tī kick, 跑 pǎo run

钅- 金字旁 jīnzì páng

Semantic indication: metal

Examples: 铁 tiě iron, 铝 lǚ aluminum, 银 yín silver

饣- 食字旁 shí zì páng

Semantic indication: eat; food

Example: 饭 fàn rice, 饺子 jiǎozi dumplings

衤- 衣字旁 yī zì páng

Semantic indication: clothing

Examples: 被 bèi quilt, 裙 qún skirt

目 - 目 字旁 mù zì páng

Semantic indication: eye

Examples: 瞎 xiā blind, 眼睛 yǎnjīng eyes

日 - 日字旁 rì zì páng

Semantic indication: sun, day

Examples: 明 míng bright, 时 shí time

贝 - 贝字旁 bèi zì páng

Semantic meaning: shell (money, as shells were once used as currency)

Example: 财 cái fortune, 货 huò goods

幺 - 幺字旁 yāo zì páng

Semantic indication: tiny, small

Examples: 幻 huàn fantasy, 幼 yòu young

土 - 提土旁 tí tǔ páng

Semantic indication: earth

Examples: 地 dì earth, 埃 āi dust

虫 - 虫字旁 chóng zì páng

Semantic meaning: bug, insect

Examples: 蜜蜂 mìfēng bee, 蚂蚁 mǎyǐ ant

Photo: Thought Co

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