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Radical (Chinese character)

A radical (from Latin radix, meaning "root") is a basic identifiable component of every CJK Han character, namely, of the Chinese Hanzi, the Japanese Kanji, and the Korean Hanja. The name is an English translation of the characters 部首 (bu4 shou3 in Chinese, Bushu in Japanese), literally meaning "partial head", where "head" means "the most important (part)".

Radical are used in Chinese dictionaries and Kanji-Japanese dictionaries to order characters in sets by the number of strokes they contain.

Full characters are ordered according to their initial radicals, which fall into roughly 200 types. Then these are subcategorised by their total number of strokes.

The commonly used system, known as the "radical-and-stroke-count" method, makes use of the fact that Chinese characters (total number very approximately 5,000-50,000) are assembled from some 1,000-2,000 subcomponents. Of those subcomponents a few hundred are designated as "radicals" for indexing purposes. The most commonly encountered radicals are very basic ideograms, representing simple concepts like "man (人)," "sun (日)," or "tree (木)". The steps involved in looking up a character are (a) identify the radical under which the character is most likely to have been indexed; (b) find the section of the dictionary associated with that radical; (c) count the number of brush or pen strokes in the non-radical portion of the character; (d) find the pages listing characters under that radical that have that number of additional strokes; (e) find the appropriate entry or experiment with different choices for steps a and c.

For example, (信) (man standing next to his words(mouth with sound) meaning truth, faith, fidelity, sincerity, trust, confidence, reliance, or devotion. This particular character is composed of the radical for "man," and 7 additional strokes. To look this up one by the multi-radical method, [1] (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic1R) one finds the radical for "man" in the dictionary (most dictionaries will have an index page to help with this step) and then passes through 1 additional stroke, 2 additional strokes, etc. until one finds entries for 7 additional strokes. If the radical chosen by the user matches the radical used by the dictionary compiler (not a problem in this simple example, but it can be tricky), and if both user and dictionary compiler count strokes the same way (occasionally a problem), the entry will be found.

This principle of categorisation is exploited by everybody who must learn to write Han characters: The vast number of Chinese characters can be much more easily memorized if they are mentally decomposed into their constituent radicals. The question of how many characters there are is a subject of debate.

In the 18th century, European scholars claimed the total tally to be about 80,000. This number, however, is exaggerated, as the most comprehensive dictionary (the Kangxi Dictionary 康熙字典) lists about 40,000 characters. One reason for large number of characters is that they include all of the different characters in the different variations of Chinese. Popular estimates say that about 3,000 characters are needed to read a Chinese newspaper, and 4,000 to 5,000 constitute a decent education.

Often a character which is not commonly used will appear in a personal or place name in Japanese and Chinese names (see Japanese name and Chinese name). This has caused problems with some computer encoding systems which include only the 5000 or so most common characters and exclude the less often used characters. For example, the Taiwanese politician Wang Jian-hsüan has a name that is difficult to encode in some computer systems because the last character in the name is a uncommon character.

Table of contents

List of radicals

The following is the list of radicals in order of the number of strokes. The list is from Radical-Stroke Index of Unihan Database [2] (http://www.unicode.org/charts/unihanrsindex.html)

One stroke

2F00.PNG one, 2F01.PNG line, 2F02.PNG dot, 2F03.PNG slash, 2F04.PNG second and 2F05.PNG hook.

Two strokes

2F06.PNG two, 2F07.PNG lid, 2F08.PNG man, 2F09.PNG legs, 2F0A.PNG enter 2F0B.PNG eight, 2F0C.PNG down box, 2F0D.PNG cover, 2F0E.PNG ice, 2F0F.PNG table, 2F10.PNG open box, 2F11.PNG, knife, 2F12.PNG power, 2F13.PNG wrap, 2F14.PNG spoon, 2F15.PNG right open box, 2F16.PNG hiding enclosure, 2F17.PNG ten, 2F18.PNG divination, 2F19.PNG seal, 2F1A.PNG cliff, 2F1B.PNG private and 2F1C.PNG again

Three strokes

2F1D.PNG mouth, 2F1E.PNG enclosure, 2F1F.PNG earth, 2F20.PNG scholar, 2F21.PNG go, 2F22.PNG go slowly, 2F23.PNG evening, 2F24.PNG big, 2F25.PNG woman, 2F26.PNG child, 2F27.PNG roof, 2F28.PNG inch, 2F29.PNG small, 2F2A.PNG lame, 2F2B.PNG corpse, 2F2C.PNG sprout, 2F2D.PNG mountain, 2F2E.PNG river, 2F2F.PNG work, 2F30.PNG oneself, 2F31.PNG turban, 2F32.PNG dry, 2F33.PNG short thread, 2F34.PNG dotted cliff, 2F35.PNG long stride, 2F36.PNG two hands, 2F37.PNG shoot, 2F38.PNG bow, 2F39.PNG snout, 2F3A.PNG bristle, 2F3B.PNG step

Four strokes

2F3C.PNG heart, 2F3D.PNG halberd, 2F3E.PNG door, 2F3F.PNG hand, 2F40.PNG branch, 2F41.PNG rap, 2F42.PNG script, 2F43.PNG dipper, 2F44.PNG axe, 2F45.PNG square, 2F46.PNG not, 2F47.PNG sun, 2F48.PNG say, 2F49.PNG moon, 2F4A.PNG tree, 2F4B.PNG lack, 2F4C.PNG stop, 2F4D.PNG death, 2F4E.PNG weapon, 2F4F.PNG do not, 2F50.PNG compare, 2F51.PNG fur, 2F52.PNG clan, 2F53.PNG steam, 2F54.PNG water, 2F55.PNG fire, 2F56.PNG claw, 2F57.PNG father, 2F58.PNG double x, 2F59.PNG half tree trunk, 2F5A.PNG slice, 2F5B.PNG fang, 2F5C.PNG cow, and 2F5D.PNG dog

Five strokes

2F5E.PNG profound, 2F5F.PNG jade, 2F60.PNG melon, 2F61.PNG tile, 2F62.PNG sweet, 2F63.PNG life, 2F64.PNG use, 2F65.PNG field, 2F66.PNG bolt of cloth, 2F67.PNG sickness, 2F68.PNG dotted tent, 2F69.PNG white, 2F6A.PNG skin, 2F6B.PNG dish, 2F6C.PNG eye, 2F6D.PNG spear, 2F6E.PNG arrow, 2F6F.PNG stone, 2F70.PNG spirit, 2F71.PNG track, 2F72.PNG grain, 2F73.PNG cave, and 2F74.PNG stand.

Six strokes

2F75.PNG bamboo, 2F76.PNG rice, 2F77.PNG silk, 2F78.PNG jar, 2F79.PNG net, 2F7A.PNG sheep, 2F7B.PNG feather, 2F7C.PNG old, 2F7D.PNG and, 2F7E.PNG plow, 2F7F.PNG ear, 2F80.PNG brush, 2F81.PNG meat, 2F82.PNG minister, 2F83.PNG self, 2F84.PNG arrive, 2F85.PNG mortar, 2F86.PNG tongue, 2F87.PNG oppose, 2F88.PNG boat, 2F89.PNG stopping, 2F8A.PNG color, 2F8B.PNG grass, 2F8C.PNG tiger, 2F8D.PNG insect, 2F8E.PNG blood, 2F8F.PNG walk enclosure, 2F90.PNG clothes, and 2F91.PNG west.

Seven strokes

2F92.PNG see, 2F93.PNG horn, 2F94.PNG speech, 2F95.PNG valley, 2F96.PNG bean, 2F97.PNG pig, 2F98.PNG badger, 2F99.PNG shell, 2F9A.PNG red, 2F9B.PNG run, 2F9C.PNG foot, 2F9D.PNG body, 2F9E.PNG cart, 2F9F.PNG bitter, 2FA0.PNG morning, 2FA1.PNG walk, 2FA2.PNG city, 2FA3.PNG wine, 2FA4.PNG distinguish, and, 2FA5.PNG village.

Eight strokes

2FA6.PNG gold, 2FA7.PNG long, 2FA8.PNG gate, 2FA9.PNG mound, 2FAA.PNG slave, 2FAB.PNG short tailed bird, 2FAC.PNG rain, 2FAD.PNG blue, and, 2FAE.PNG wrong.

Nine strokes

2FAF.PNG face, 2FB0.PNG leather, 2FB1.PNG tanned leather, 2FB2.PNG leek, 2FB3.PNG sound, 2FB4.PNG leaf, 2FB5.PNG wind, 2FB6.PNG fly, 2FB7.PNG eat, 2FB8.PNG head, and, 2FB9.PNG fragrant.

Ten strokes

2FBA.PNG horse, 2FBB.PNG bone, 2FBC.PNG tall, 髟 hair, 鬥 fight, 鬯 sacrificial wine, 鬲 cauldron, and, 鬼 ghost.

Eleven strokes

魚 fish, 鳥 bird, 鹵 alkaline, 鹿 dear, 麥 wheat, 麻 hemp.

Twelve strokes

黃 yellow, 黍 millet, 黑 black, 黹 needlework.

Thirteen strokes

黽 strive, 鼎 tripod, 鼓 drum, 鼠 rat.

Fourteen strokes

鼻 nose, 齊 uniformly.

Fifteen strokes

齒 tooth.

Sixteen strokes

龍 dragon, 龜 tortoise.

Seventeen strokes

龠 measuring vessel.

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