Chinese Radicals
The 40 radicals that unlock most characters — meanings, spoken names and example characters.
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河 海 洗 汉
你 他 们 住
吃 喝 叫 吗
打 找 拿 推
想 念 忘 意
快 慢 忙 情
妈 好 姐 她
林 树 桌 椅
明 晚 时 早
朋 脸 腿 胖
说 话 请 谢
这 过 还 远
烧 烤 灯 热
花 茶 菜 药
家 安 室 宝
间 问 闹 闻
饭 饿 饺 馆
红 给 纸 线
钱 银 铁 错
地 场 城 坐
天 太 夫 奇
少 尖 尘 当
峰 岛 岁 岸
好 孩 学 字
狗 猫 猪 狼
病 疼 瘦 痛
裤 衬 被 初
看 眼 睡 眉
跑 跳 路 踢
轮 转 轻 较
骑 驾 验 骂
雪 雷 零 需
砖 碗 硬 码
到 别 刻 剧
京 亮 高 夜
冷 冰 凉 决
蛇 蚊 蝴 虾
鸡 鸭 鹅 鸣
玩 球 理 现
贵 买 货 费
Radicals are the closest thing characters have to an alphabet: ~200 recurring building blocks that hint at meaning. See 氵 and water is involved (河 river, 洗 to wash); see 讠 and someone is speaking (说, 话, 请). Learn the 40 on this page and most everyday characters stop being random strokes — they become a meaning hint plus a sound hint.
Each radical here comes with the name Chinese speakers actually say aloud — 氵 is 三点水 "three-drops-of-water", 亻 is 单人旁 "single-person side" — which is what the audio reads, and exactly what a teacher will say when dictating a character. They are also how you look up an unknown character in a paper dictionary and describe characters over the phone.
How many radicals do I need to know?
The standard Kangxi list has 214, but frequency is brutally skewed: the 40 here cover the majority of everyday characters. Learn these first, add the rest as you meet them.
Do radicals tell me the pronunciation?
Radicals hint at meaning. The *other* part of most characters (the phonetic component) hints at sound: 妈 mā = 女 (woman, meaning) + 马 mǎ (sound). About 80% of characters follow this meaning+sound pattern.
Why do radicals have names like 三点水?
Compressed forms like 氵 cannot be pronounced, so speakers name them descriptively: 三点水 "three drops of water". These names are how characters are dictated and taught in schools.
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