Table of Contents
What is a radical in Chinese?
A Chinese radical (Chinese: 部首; pinyin: bùshǒu; lit. ‘section header’) or indexing component is a graphical component of a Chinese character under which the character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary.
How do you find the radical of a Chinese character?
How do I find the radical of a Chinese character?
- The radical is generally on the bottom in a vertical character (such as 思 – radical is 心)
- The radical is usually on the left in a horizontal character (such as 什 – radical is 亻)
How many radicals are in the Chinese language?
214 radicals
How many radicals are there in the Chinese Language, Right? There is a total of 214 radicals in the traditional radical system.
Are all Chinese characters made up of radicals?
For some reason, this is translated as “radical” in English. Each Chinese character has one and only one radical, which dictionaries use to sort the character into the right section.
What are the basic Chinese radicals?
Basic Common Chinese Radicals
| Radical | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 亻 | 你 you (nǐ) |
| 2 | 彳 | 街 street (jiē), 往 toward (wǎng) |
| 3 | 氵 | 河 river (hé), 洗 wash (xǐ) |
| 4 | 冫 | 冰 ice (bīng), 冻 freeze (dòng) |
What are the 214 Chinese radicals?
Radical 214 meaning “flute” is the only one of the 214 Kangxi radicals that is composed of 17 strokes, making it the radical that requires the most strokes. In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 21 characters (out of 40,000) to be found under this radical.
Is it worth learning Chinese radicals?
Learning common radicals is useful, not because they are radicals, but because they also happen to be common semantic (meaning) components. Learning which component is the radical in a specific character is useless in a modern setting, but learning about the function of each component is very useful.
How do Chinese learn radicals?
If you’re looking to define a word, you can typically find the radicals on the left or top of the characters:
- 姐 (jiě — older sister) is a horizontal character, written left to right. The radical, on the left, is 女 (nü).
- 感 (gǎn — sense) is a vertical character, written top to bottom. The radical, on top, is 心 (xīn).
What is the common radical?
Radicals (bù shǒu) are common “components” used in Chinese characters. Rather than remembering all the strokes of a Chinese character, it’s sometimes easier to remember the radicals, which are frequently used as components in Chinese characters. As you study Chinese, you will notice a repeating pattern of radicals …
Should I learn all Chinese radicals?
Is Chinese radical important?
Radicals are not only important to help us understand the meaning of the character, but it also helps when using a dictionary. Basically, in order to use a 汉语词典 (hàn yǔ cí diǎn) or Chinese Dictionary (made of paper) you need to have a good knowledge of radicals to find a character.