![\"Chinese](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2029\/05\/chinese-language-roots.jpg\" "\\"Chinese")
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When speaking about the Chinese language, one of the most disturbing “facts” is that there is no alphabet. \u201cSo how do they do it? Is every word different? And how do they remember how it is written?\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s not easy to respond to these and other similar questions without understanding a little bit more about Chinese writing. In this article I will try to speak about the “alternative” system to the alphabet, that of radicals<\/strong>: perhaps, after having read it, you too will better understand the logic behind the Chinese language!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is the smallest unit of the Chinese language? For us it is the letter<\/strong>: a graphic symbol that indicates a sound (technically called a phenome). This makes English (along with Italian, Spanish, and German) an alphabetical language<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The smallest unit of the Chinese language is the syllable<\/strong>: this means that the characters<\/strong> (the units of writing that have the same function of our letters), in Chinese \u6c49\u5b57 (H\u00e0nz\u00ec, \u201cHan characters\u201d<\/a>), correspond not to a single sound but to a syllable \u2013 making Chinese a syllabic language<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n There are very few exceptions, such as for example \u513f (r), used to indicate the retroactive \u201cr\u201d of the Beijing dialect and \u55ef (\u0144), that indicates a non-verbal expression, a type of mumble (like our mmh of affirmation or doubt). <\/p>\n This makes it difficult, for example, to transcribe words and names in foreign languages using Chinese characters<\/a>, because there’s only a limited number of syllables that exist in Chinese<\/a>.<\/p>\n Therefore, the smallest graphic unit of the Chinese language, which corresponds to the syllable, is the character, which at times is also called a sinogram. Each character then corresponds not only to a syllabic sound but also to meaning. This is a “three-faced” unit: sound, graphic sign, and meaning (this is why they often speak of a sememes, as opposed to phonemes or graphemes). <\/p>\n As a comparison, our letters only have two “faces”, the graphic sign and the sound. For a meaning, you usually need to put several letters together.<\/p>\n The characters, though, can be broken down into smaller units which are simply the strokes of a pen (or a brush) needed to write them. <\/p>\n The strokes (\u7b14\u753b b\u01d0hu\u00e0, also written as \u7b14\u5212 with the same pronunciation) are the single lines of which a character is formed. The eight basic strokes, taught in any Chinese language or calligraphy course are: <\/p>\n 1. the dot \u70b9 (di\u01cen) These are the basic strokes of Chinese<\/a> characters, which are all contained in the character \u6c38 (y\u01d2ng). If you’ve taken a Chinese calligraphy course (or even a single lesson) you’ll most certainly have come across it!<\/p>\n The other strokes are the result of a combination of these eight basic lines. It is also important to note that the strokes, like our letters, almost always have no meaning of their own (the only exception I managed to find is \u4e00 y\u012b, \u201cone\u201d, which corresponds to the horizontal stroke \u6a2a h\u00e9ng).<\/p>\n Nevertheless, even though they have a name (which is useful for identifying them when asked to write a specific stroke or describe the process of writing a character), the strokes don’t have a sound: they are just a series of graphic symbols to put together in order to form characters.<\/p>\n You’ll note though, that the characters can quite often be broken up into two distinct parts, and these parts are repeated within other characters. <\/p>\n Staying on the first words one learns when starting to learn Chinese, you’ll certainly have noticed that the left part of \u4f60 (n\u01d0, \u201cyou\u201d) is identical to \u4ed6 (t\u0101, him), or the left part of \u597d (h\u01ceo, \u201cwell\u201d) is the same as \u5979 (t\u0101, \u201cher\u201d). In addition, the right side of \u4ed6 is the same as \u5979: here, there are units, not the minimum as in strokes, where you can subdivide the characters.<\/p>\n The \u201ccomponents\u201d (we’ll now call them that) here used are \u4ebb, \u5c14, \u4e5f, \u5973, \u5b50, and I’m sure that you can find lots of other characters that contain them; the last three, even by themselves, are very common characters (\u4e5f y\u011b \u201ceven\u201d, \u5973 n\u01da \u201cwoman\u201d, \u5b50 z\u01d0 \u201cson\u201d). But what functions do these components have? What are they called? Can they be compared to our letters?<\/p>\n Halfway between a stroke and character, there’s another unit into which you can divide the sinograms. There are various terms to designate this unit depending on the part being brought out. <\/p>\n The term \u90e8\u4ef6 (b\u00f9ji\u00e0n)<\/strong> can be used to indicate a “part”, without specifying its function; similarly, as we’ll see later on, you can use the word \u504f\u65c1 (pi\u0101np\u00e1ng). Essentially these are the recognizable and separable parts as those seen above. <\/p>\n They are divided into \u6210\u5b57\u7684\u90e8\u4ef6 (ch\u00e9ng z\u00ec de b\u00f9ji\u00e0n), or parts that can also be characters, and \u975e\u6210\u5b57\u7684\u90e8\u4ef6 (f\u0113i ch\u00e9ng z\u00ec de b\u00f9ji\u00e0n), which can’t be their own characters. To give a simple example \u5973 (n\u01da) and \u5b50 (z\u01d0) are two autonomous characters which respectively mean “woman” and “child”, but become components within the character \u597d (h\u01ceo). <\/p>\n Other components, such as the vertical stroke\u4e28 (g\u00f9n), the dot \u4e36 (di\u01cen or zh\u01d4) or the left curving stroke \u4e3f (pi\u011b), exclusively appear in combination and don’t exist as single characters represented by a single stroke as in \u5b80 (mi\u00e1n) roof, \u5f61 (sh\u0101n) radical for lines, hair etc., and \u961d(f\u00f9) city, which don’t exist as single characters (or at least not in modern Chinese).<\/p>\n Some characters have different shapes when they appear as components, which are essentially adaptations or graphic compressions: \u4ebb = \u4eba (r\u00e9n), person; \u706c = \u706b (hu\u01d2), fire; \u5202 = \u5200 (d\u0101o), knife.<\/p>\n Lastly, some radicals can, in turn, be broken down into other components like \u97f3 (y\u012bn), \u201csound\u201d, formed by \u65e5 (r\u00ec) \u201cday\/sun\u201d and \u7acb (l\u00ec) \u201cto stand\u201d. Non-simple characters can be made up not only of a collection of radicals but also previously existing characters, which in turn can be broken down into smaller parts.<\/p>\n You also need to keep in mind the simplification of characters that took place in Mainland China starting in the Sixties, which also intervened on the components and changed their appearance in all characters that contain them. Some examples are \u9580 \u2192 \u95e8 (m\u00e9n, door), \u898b \u2192 \u89c1 (ji\u00e0n, to see) and \u99ac \u2192 \u9a6c (m\u01ce, horse): if you’re interested in the subject you can find all the details on simplification in this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n If with \u90e8\u4ef6 (b\u00f9ji\u00e0n) we refer to \u201cparts\u201d in a very general way, the subject changes when talking about \u90e8\u9996 (b\u00f9sh\u01d2u)<\/strong>, that is the radicals<\/strong>. This term comes from the first Chinese dictionary, the \u8bf4\u6587\u89e3\u5b57 (Shu\u014dw\u00e9n Ji\u011bz\u00ec), compiled by Xu Shen \u8bb8\u614e (X\u01d4 Sh\u00e8n) in 121 A.D., where the characters were grouped together by common “parts”: the 9353 characters of the dictionary were classified under 540 radicals. <\/p>\n To give an example, the characters \u5988 (m\u0101), \u59b9 (m\u00e8i), \u5999 (mi\u00e0o), \u59d1 (g\u016b) and many others were grouped in one part (\u90e8\u5206 b\u00f9fen) of the dictionary under the character \u5973 (n\u01da), which served as the \u201cfirst\u201d (\u9996 sh\u01d2u) of the section (\u90e8 b\u00f9), and from here comes the term \u90e8\u9996 (b\u00f9sh\u01d2u, the \u201cfirst of the section\u201d). <\/p>\n The radicals hide the function of ordering the characters since they’re impossible to put into alphabetical order (to learn more about how Chinese dictionaries work you can read this article<\/a>). <\/p>\n Presently the standard is made up of 214 radicals. They were made official in the K\u0101ngx\u012b Dictionary (\u5eb7\u7199\u5b57\u5178 K\u0101ngx\u012b Z\u00ecdi\u01cen), compiled during the Qing Era (\u6e05\u671d Q\u012bngch\u00e1o, 1644-1911 A.D.), and for this reason, they’re also called Kangxi radicals (\u5eb7\u7199\u90e8\u9996, K\u0101ngx\u012b b\u00f9sh\u01d2u). They can be formed by a number of strokes from one to 17; some, especially among those with a higher number of strokes, are very rare. You can find a table of the 214 Kangxi radicals here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In reality, even for the Chinese, when talking about \u201cradicals\u201d there’s a certain ambiguity because today this word is used indifferently to indicate two different concepts: let’s see which.<\/p>\n The basic function of the radicals, the ones for which the system itself was created, is for consulting a dictionary. In this case we’re speaking about \u201cradicals for consulting the dictionary\u201d \u68c0\u5b57\u90e8\u9996 (ji\u01cenz\u00ec b\u00f9sh\u01d2u)<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The majority of Chinese dictionaries start with an index of radicals (\u90e8\u9996\u68c0\u5b57\u8868, b\u00f9sh\u01d2u ji\u01cenz\u00ecbi\u01ceo), where characters are grouped under the reference radical as in the first dictionaries. <\/p>\n In a dictionary, the section of all characters contained within a specific radical is called by the name of the radical followed by \u90e8 (b\u00f9). In the section \u201c\u8a00\u90e8\u201d (y\u00e1n b\u00f9), for example, all the characters containing the radical of the word are gathered, under \u201c\u96e8\u90e8\u201d (y\u01d4 b\u00f9) all those with the radical of rain and so on. Usually, the radical under which the character is found is on the left or above (but not necessarily).<\/p>\n Combined characters at times appear in both sections of components. For example, with a simple search in a pocket dictionary I was able to verify that \u548c (h\u00e9, \u201cand\u201d) appears in both the section \u53e3 (k\u01d2u) and under the radical \u79be (h\u00e9).<\/p>\n All Chinese characters have a radical “from the dictionary\u201d, even if its purely graphic criteria. Strokes from simple characters (those that don’t break down into other parts), the composite character’s strokes can all be represented by the indexing of a character, which could be both a single stroke or a complex part.<\/p>\n Indexing is the only function of this type of radical. For example, knowing that the character \u606d (g\u014dng) belongs to the section \u201c\u2014\u90e8\u201d doesn’t give us any information about its meaning, appearance or pronunciation, something that the second type of radicals offer.<\/p>\n In China, when elementary school students learn characters, they start with terms like \u4e09\u70b9\u6c34 (s\u0101ndi\u01cen shu\u01d0) \u201cthe three dots of water\u201d, that is the radical \u6c35, or the \u201cradical of hand\u201d \u63d0\u624b\u65c1 (t\u00edsh\u01d2u p\u00e1ng) (\u624c), the \u201cfour points below\u201d \u56db\u70b9\u5e95 (s\u00ec di\u01cen d\u01d0) (\u706c) or the \u201cradial of the vertical heart\u201d \u7ad6\u5fc3\u65c1 (sh\u00f9x\u012bnp\u00e1ng) (\u5fc4). These radicals are called \u201cradicals for learning characters\u201d \u8bc6\u5b57\u90e8\u9996 (sh\u00edz\u00ec b\u00f9sh\u01d2u)<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The two types of radicals in the majority of cases coincide in the sense that they indicate almost the same components. The radicals for the dictionary however have a single function, namely to index the search method for dictionary radicals (\u90e8\u9996\u67e5\u5b57\u6cd5 b\u00f9sh\u01d2u ch\u00e1z\u00ecf\u01ce), and are based on the graphic element. <\/p>\n “Student” radicals instead have many functions, which we’ll see afterward and can be extremely useful for you in learning Chinese.<\/p>\n You’ll surely have noticed that radicals are not arranged in a linear way, like our letters, but can be distributed in various ways in a “squared space” occupied by the character. <\/p>\n There are Chinese terms to indicate the position (\u90e8\u4f4d b\u00f9w\u00e8i) of a radical within a character that can be used to describe its appearance, which parts it is made of and how they are arranged. They are grouped in pairs: <\/p>\n These expressions can be used to describe how a character is formed, even headings, and act as actual “names” for the radicals:<\/p>\n \u5206 (f\u0113n) \u516b\u5b57\u5934\uff0c\u5200\u5b57\u5e95 (the upper part is \u516b b\u0101, the part below is \u5200 d\u0101o) *\u53e3 (k\u01d2u), \u201cmouth\u201d and \u56d7 (w\u00e9i), \u201caround\u201d, differ only in size, and the second is quite often, as in this case, called \u5927\u53e3 (d\u00e0 k\u01d2u). \u56d7 (w\u00e9i) for example appears in \u56fd (gu\u00f3) \u201ccountry\u201d and \u56ed (yu\u00e1n) \u201cgarden\u201d.<\/p>\n The same radical can appear in different positions, as you can note above with \u53e3 (k\u01d2u), as a frame and on the angles but also appearing in the middle (for example in \u95ee w\u00e8n) or on the left (as in \u5417 ma). Some radicals have a “preference” for a specific location where it most often appears.<\/p>\n For example, the radicals \u9091\/\u2ecf (f\u00f9), relative to a city or places in general, and \u961c\/\u961d(f\u00f9), which has to do with land and nature, are very similar and are only different in their position: whereas the first appears always on the right, as in \u90fd (d\u016b, metropolises), the second is found on the left as in \u9662 (yu\u00e0n, courtyard).<\/p>\n Other radicals that are easy to confuse are \u793b (sh\u00ec, altar) and \u8864 (y\u012b, suit), which are only differentiated by a single additional stroke (the last point on the right), and \u201cmoon\u201d \u6708 (yu\u00e8) and \u201cmeat\u201d \u8089 (r\u00f2u), which are both commonly written as \u6708, even though the correct writing of the second would be \u2ebc (for example it appears in \u8138 lia\u0148, face and \u811a ji\u01ceo, foot). <\/p>\n Knowing these components is fundamental for those learning Chinese writing. From a graphic point of view, these are “fixed” elements: knowing how a radical is written, you already know the order and number of strokes of that part in all characters that contain it; breaking a character into parts then helps you better understand the structure and ease of clear and legible writing. <\/p>\n Lastly, radicals also help with memorization, since you don’t learn “casual” lines but a series of graphic symbols to combine to create characters: just think that the characters contained in the “three dots of water” \u4e09\u70b9\u6c34 (s\u0101ndi\u01cen shu\u01d0) are more than 500!<\/p>\n Another function of radicals is to suggest the meaning and pronunciation of a character. I purposely used the word \u201csuggest\u201d, because this is not an absolute rule, as we will see. <\/p>\n radicals and characters inserted as components in other characters obviously have a meaning and pronunciation all their own, which often are somehow tied to the characters in which they appear. <\/p>\n When it comes to meaning<\/strong>, for example, in many words connected with water there’s the radical of the “three dots of water\u201d, \u4e09\u70b9\u6c34 (s\u0101ndi\u01cen shu\u01d0) (\u6c35), as in \u6d77 (h\u01cei, sea), \u6c5f (ji\u0101ng, river), \u6d0b (y\u00e1ng, ocean), \u6e2f (g\u01ceng, port).<\/p>\n But there are some exceptions that will make you smile: for example \u6c99\u6f20 (sh\u0101m\u00f2), \u201cdesert\u201d, a place notorious for its lack of water, which instead has the radical for water in both characters that make up the word. Usually the radical that indicates meaning is located on the left or above.<\/p>\n The \u201cthree dots\u201d are the “stylized” version of the character \u6c34 (shu\u01d0, water). Other very common radicals that suggest a meaning are \u5973 (n\u01da, woman), which we saw a few examples of above, but is also contained for example in \u5988\u5988 (m\u0101ma, mama) \u59b9\u59b9 (m\u00e8imei, little sister) \u59d0\u59d0 (ji\u011bjie, big sister) \u5976\u5976 (n\u01ceinai, paternal grandmother). Do you see the \u201cgraphical\u201d similarity?<\/p>\n Thanks to the radicals, you can “see” these words “have to do” with something feminine, even if you don’t know the precise meaning.<\/p>\n Often there are pictographic elements that are directly derived from primordial “little designs” represented in nature. So many words with meanings tied to “light\u201d or time will have the radical \u65e5 (r\u00ec, sun\/day) or \u6708 (yu\u00e8, moon), for one \u660e (m\u00edng), \u201cluminous\u201d; lots of particles of the spoken language (\u5417 ma, \u5462 ne, \u54ea n\u01ce) and words that have to do with the act of speaking (\u8bf4shu\u014d) or eating (\u5403 ch\u012b) contain the radical of mouth \u53e3 (k\u01d2u).<\/p>\n \u6728 (m\u00f9, tree) is in many words having to do with various species of trees (\u6811 sh\u00f9),\u76ee (m\u00f9, eye) in words having to do with vision, such as the verbs to look (\u770bk\u00e0n) and to see (\u89c1 ji\u00e0n, in its traditional form \u898b); \u706b (hu\u01d2, fire), even in its alternative form \u706c in words with meanings tied to heat (\u70ed r\u00e8, hot), \u5c71 (sh\u0101n, mountain) in words that suggest height like \u5cf0 (f\u0113ng), \u201csummit\u201d, \u5fc3 (x\u012bn, heart, also written \u5fc4or \u2e97) found in words related to feelings. <\/p>\n I’m sure many other words that contain them have come to mind! Thanks to the radicals you can \u201cguess\u201d the meaning of a word you don’t know if it contains a part that you’ve already seen.<\/p>\n The radical \u4eba (r\u00e9n, person, also written as \u4ebb) appears on the left in \u4ed6 (t\u0101, him) \u4eec (men, suffix of the plural) \u4f60 (n\u01d0, you); however it also appears on the right, for example in the characters \u8ba4 (r\u00e8n) contained in the words \u8ba4\u4e3a (r\u00e8nw\u00e9i, to think) and \u8ba4\u8bc6 (r\u00e8nshi, to know). Did you notice? The pronunciation is the same! Or better yet\u2026 not exactly.<\/p>\n Another term to indicate the character’s components, used in \u73b0\u4ee3\u6c49\u8bed (Xi\u00e0nd\u00e0i H\u00e0ny\u01d4, \u201cContemporary Chinese\u201d), a Chinese authority on grammar, is \u504f\u65c1 (pi\u0101np\u00e1ng)<\/strong>, meaning \u201ccomponents\u201d.<\/p>\n As you could see above, the left part of a character is called \u504f (pi\u0101n) and the right part \u65c1 (p\u00e1ng), of which the word indicates both.<\/p>\n Today, lots of characters are formed by a semantic part \u5f62\u65c1 (x\u00edngp\u00e1ng)<\/strong>, which suggests the meaning of the character, and a phonetic part \u58f0\u65c1 (sh\u0113ngp\u00e1ng)<\/strong>, which instead indicates its sound; the term \u504f\u65c1 indicates the total of the two parts. <\/p>\n The semantic part corresponds to the radicals seen above when they are understood as part of the character that suggests the meaning; so as not to get confused, just consider the radicals as components, but not all components are radicals. <\/p>\n The semantic part, as we’ve already seen, tends to show up above or on the left; the phonetic part instead often shows up on the right, below or inside the character.<\/p>\n Here’s a few examples:<\/p>\n You surely noted something common about the pronunciation of one of the two parts of the word; it’s the only way to “guess” the reading of a Chinese character: unfortunately, there’s no clear correspondence between characters and pronunciation (as you will have noticed from the large number of homophonic words pronounced the same way), and then there’s the tones that complicate everything.<\/p>\n Like with the \u201csuggestion\u201d of the meaning, not even the sound can be accurate due to two important problems with this system that keep it from being completely trustworthy. The first is there’s no way to tell the tone<\/strong> of the character: it could be the same or less, without precise criteria.<\/p>\n The second, is that we don’t know \u201chow similar\u201d the pronunciation might be: it could be equal as between \u6728 (m\u00f9) \u201cwood\u201d and \u6c90 (m\u00f9) \u201cwash one’s hair\u201d or, as in \u4eba (r\u00e9n) and \u8ba4 (r\u00e8n) seen above, or in \u4eec (men) and \u95e8 (m\u00e9n, door), which are written the same but change the tone<\/strong>. <\/p>\n Lastly there’s the chance of a partial similarity<\/strong> between the two pronunciations, usually in the final part of the syllable, which often involves pairs of very similar sounds such as the pairs seen above \u76c6 (p\u00e9n)\/\u5206 (f\u0113n) and \u95ee (w\u00e8n)\/\u95e8 (m\u00e9n).<\/p>\n Obviously a last possibility is that in the natural evolution of the language, which in the case of the Chinese has brought about a pronunciation that is very different than the original, some similarities have been lost and therefore there’s no “phonetic index\u201d.<\/p>\n There are no more than a hundred commonly used radicals (the semantic parts); on the other hand, the phonetic components, also called keys to reading<\/strong>, are more than a thousand. Of these almost 90% are also autonomous characters (\u6210\u5b57\u58f0\u65c1 ch\u00e9ng z\u00ec sh\u0113ngp\u00e1ng). <\/p>\n Learning some of these can be very useful to you if you find yourself having to read out loud a text you’ve never seen before: you could \u201cimprovise\u201d a possible pronunciation of the words you don’t know and eventually discover that it’s very similar to some words you’ve already learned (and sometimes even guess the right pronunciation!). <\/p>\n Here are some of the most recurring \u201ckeys to reading\u201d with relative examples that are also common:<\/p>\n \u5df4 (b\u0101)<\/strong>: \u5427 (b\u0101), \u628a (b\u01ce), \u7238 (b\u00e0), \u722c (p\u00e1) You’ve come to see now that the Chinese system of writing\/reading is not only very different than what we’re used to but also much less “certain\u201d. Where we have letters that correspond to sounds (which in Italian are very fixed but less so in languages like English), the Chinese have a much more complicated system that involves writing, reading and meaning. <\/p>\n In Italian we might now how to pronounce a word but not know its meaning; in Chinese, you could guess the meaning of a word without being able to read it. <\/p>\n There are various reasons and we won’t get into this rather complex subject; however before leaving you, here’s a small review of all of the functions radicals have which will certainly be useful for those learning the language. <\/p>\n 1. The first is the reason why they were created, namely to be indexed<\/strong> in dictionaries. Even apps like Pleco have a function for searching radicals that is almost always get snubbed in favor of writing by hand which is much more practical and intuitive.<\/p>\n 2. Then there’s their function as a graphic unit<\/strong>: learning to write a single component, following the right order of strokes, you can write characters correctly even when you’ve never seen it before. <\/p>\n 3. The semantic function<\/strong> allows you to guess the meaning of a character by looking at its radical (usually placed to the left or above), in a very generic way.<\/p>\n 4. The phonetic function<\/strong> gives us indications, though not precise, about the pronunciation of the character. The phonetic component usually appears on the right, below or inside the character.<\/p>\n 5. Lastly, radicals also have a mnemonic function<\/strong>, which is used by young Chinese when learning the \u201ccomponents\u201d of the characters of which they’re formed. Remembering which \u201cparts\u201d a character is made up of will be easier when it comes to remembering what it looks like, its meaning and being able to read it. <\/p>\n The process for learning to write and read Chinese is far more labor-intensive than those of alphabetical writing, but perhaps it’s for this reason that there’s a fascination with the Chinese language\u2026 I hope that after having read this article it will be a little clearer for you and will help you to learn Chinese characters easier, even the most complex ones. <\/p>\n If it was helpful, leave me a comment!<\/p>\n Photo Credits: When speaking about the Chinese language, one of the most disturbing “facts” is that there is no alphabet. \u201cSo how do they do it? Is every word different? And how do they remember how it is written?\u201d It’s not easy to respond to these and other similar questions without understanding a little bit more about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":21078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[390,66],"class_list":["post-21071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-chinese","tag-learn-chinese-sidebar","tag-learn-chinese"],"yoast_head":"\n\nThe radicals – Index<\/h3>\n
\n
The smallest unit<\/h2>\n
The strokes<\/h2>\n
\n2. the horizontal stroke \u6a2a (h\u00e9ng)
\n3. the vertical stroke \u7ad6 (sh\u00f9)
\n4. the hook \u94a9 (g\u014du), which could be added to other strokes
\n5. the left or right rising stroke that ends in a point \u63d0 (t\u00ed)
\n6. the curve \u5f2f (w\u0101n), which can also be combined with other strokes
\n7. the left or right descending stroke that ends in a point \u6487 (pi\u011b)
\n8. the left or right descending stroke that ends \u201cflat\u201d \u637a (n\u00e0) <\/p>\n![\"radicals\"](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2029\/05\/chinese-characters-roots.jpg\" "\\"radicals\\"")
<\/p>\nThe \u201cparts\u201d<\/h2>\n
The radicals<\/h2>\n
\u201cradicals for consulting a dictionary\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cradicals for learning characters\u201d<\/h2>\n
Function 1: indicating the shape of a character<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\u201c\u8fb9\u201d (bi\u0101n) to the right, like the radical of wood \u6728\u5b57\u8fb9 (m\u00f9 z\u00ec bi\u0101n) in the character \u4f53 (t\u01d0)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\u201c\u5e95\u201d (d\u01d0) below, as in the radical heart \u5fc3\u5b57\u5e95 (x\u012bn z\u00ec d\u01d0) in the character \u60f3 (xi\u01ceng)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\u201c\u5fc3\u201d (x\u012bn) inside, as in the radical for jade \u7389\u5b57\u5fc3 (y\u00f9 z\u00ec x\u012bn) in the character \u56fd (gu\u00f3)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\u201c\u89d2\u201d (ji\u01ceo) on the corners, like the radical of mouth \u53e3\u5b57\u89d2 (k\u01d2u z\u00ec ji\u01ceo) in the character \u5668 (q\u00ec)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n\u9a82 (m\u00e0) \u53cc\u53e3\u5934\uff0c\u9a6c\u5b57\u5e95 (the upper part has a double \u53e3 k\u01d2u, the part below is \u9a6c m\u01ce)
\n\u6674 (q\u00edng) \u65e5\u5b57\u65c1\uff0c\u9752\u5b57\u8fb9 (the part on the right is \u65e5 r\u00ec, the left part is \u9752 q\u012bng)
\n\u56da (qi\u00fa) \u4eba\u5b57\u5fc3\uff0c\u5927\u53e3\u6846 (the center part is \u4eba r\u00e9n, the outer part is a big \u53e3 k\u01d2u)*
\n\u6e56 (h\u00fa) \u7c73\u5b57\u65c1\uff0c\u53e4\u5b57\u8170\uff0c\u6708\u5b57\u8fb9 (to the left there’s \u7c73 m\u01d0, in the middle \u53e4 g\u01d4, to the right \u6708 yu\u00e8)
\n\u66fc (m\u00e0n) \u66f0\u5b57\u5934\uff0c\u56db\u5b57\u8170\uff0c\u53c8\u5b57\u5e95 (above there’s \u66f0 yu\u0113, in the center \u56db s\u00ec, below there’s \u53c8 y\u00f2u)
\n\u5668 (q\u00ec) \u53e3\u5b57\u89d2\uff0c\u72ac\u5b57\u8170 (on the corner there’s four \u53e3 k\u01d2u, in the middle \u72ac qu\u01cen)<\/p>\nFunction 2: suggest the meaning of a character<\/h2>\n
Function 3: suggest the sound of a character<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\u5305 (b\u0101o)<\/strong>: \u70ae (b\u0101o\/p\u00e0o), \u9971 (b\u01ceo), \u62b1 (b\u00e0o), \u6ce1 (p\u00e0o), \u8dd1 (p\u01ceo)
\n\u65b9 (f\u0101ng)<\/strong>: \u82b3 (f\u0101ng), \u623f (f\u00e1ng), \u653e (f\u00e0ng), \u4eff (f\u00e0ng)
\n\u9a6c (m\u01ce)<\/strong>: \u7801 (m\u01ce), \u739b (m\u01ce), \u8682 (m\u01ce), \u9a82 (m\u00e0)
\n\u9752 (q\u012bng)<\/strong>: \u6e05 (q\u012bng), \u60c5 (q\u00edng), \u6674 (q\u00edng), \u8bf7 (q\u01d0ng), \u775b (j\u012bng), \u7cbe (j\u012bng)
\n\u4e2d (zh\u014dng)<\/strong>: \u5fe0 (zh\u014dng), \u949f (zh\u014dng), \u79cd (zh\u01d2ng), \u51b2 (ch\u014dng)<\/p>\nThe functions of radicals<\/h2>\n
![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/icon\/cc.png\")
<\/a> Heart<\/a> by mliu92<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"