Radicals

Chinese characters are constructed by different combinations of components. Some of these components cannot be used on their own as they are not characters. These basic elements are called radicals or bùshǒu 部首. There are around two hundred radicals. All characters have radicals.

All characters have radicals; some characters with fewer strokes are the radicals themselves.

For example: 木 (mù - tree) is a character on its own, but it also forms the radical of another character, e.g. 林 (lín - woods).

All Chinese characters are formed by the combination of one or more components, rather like building-blocks. In our course, we are going to use images to introduce the 214 radicals, which will help you to remember the formation of Chinese characters. Knowing the radicals not only helps learners to memorise the characters, it can also make it easier for them to associate their meaning and sometimes pronunciation.

Below is an example of three characters having the same radical.

Some radicals have different forms. For example: 'sickle' radical has three versions:

With some radicals, you can relate their meanings to the Pichinese graphic easily.

For example: the "one" radical 一 is a horizontal line, which indicates the meaning of "one".

Use the 'Radical images' section to familiarise yourself with the raidcals. This would help you to remember the Chinese characters easier in the later tutorials.