Chinese Radicals List: The 50 Most Common Radicals and Their Meanings

A Chinese radical is the part of a character that dictionaries use to file it, and in most characters it also hints at the meaning: 氵 points to water, 口 to the mouth and 扌 to the hand. The traditional system has 214 radicals, but you do not need all of them. This Chinese radicals list gives the 50 most useful radicals, with their meanings, other forms and example characters from the HSK word lists.

Before the list, this guide explains what a radical is, where the number 214 comes from, how meaning parts and sound parts work together, and how to use radicals to guess meanings and look characters up.

What Is a Chinese Radical?

The Chinese word for radical is 部首 (bùshǒu), literally "section head". Dictionaries that order characters by their shape put them into sections, and each section is headed by a shared component: its radical.

Most characters are built from smaller parts called components (偏旁 piānpáng). The radical is the one component chosen as the character's section in a dictionary. 河 (hé, river), 海 (hǎi, sea) and 洗 (xǐ, to wash) all share 氵, so they all sit in the water section.

Radicals change shape with their position

Many radicals have a full form and a narrow form that fits on one side of a character:

人 (rén, person) becomes 亻 on the left, as in 你 (nǐ, you).
水 (shuǐ, water) becomes 氵, as in 河 (hé, river).
手 (shǒu, hand) becomes 扌, as in 打 (dǎ, to hit), but stays 手 at the bottom of 拿 (ná, to take).
心 (xīn, heart) becomes 忄 on the left, as in 忙 (máng, busy), but stays 心 at the bottom of 想 (xiǎng, to think).

Radicals have everyday names

Teachers and native speakers name radicals by their look and their position. 旁 (páng) means a side part, 头 (tóu) a top part, 底 (dǐ) a bottom part and 框 (kuàng) a frame. Knowing a few names helps when someone explains how to write a character.

Radical	Name	Pinyin	Literally
氵	三点水	sān diǎn shuǐ	three drops of water
冫	两点水	liǎng diǎn shuǐ	two drops of water
亻	单人旁	dān rén páng	single-person side
扌	提手旁	tí shǒu páng	raised-hand side
忄	竖心旁	shù xīn páng	upright-heart side
艹	草字头	cǎo zì tóu	grass top
宀	宝盖头	bǎo gài tóu	canopy top
辶	走之底	zǒu zhī dǐ	walking base
囗	国字框	guó zì kuàng	the frame of 国

The 214 Kangxi Radicals

The traditional set has 214 radicals. They are called the Kangxi radicals after the Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典 Kāngxī Zìdiǎn), which was ordered by the Kangxi Emperor and published in 1716. That dictionary filed more than 47,000 characters under the 214 radicals and made the system the standard reference for centuries.

The 214-radical system itself is a century older: it first appeared in the Zihui (字汇 Zìhuì), a dictionary published in 1615. Radicals go back much further still. One of the earliest Chinese character dictionaries, the Shuowen Jiezi (说文解字 Shuōwén Jiězì), was completed around 100 CE and sorted its characters into 540 sections.

In the Kangxi system:

The radicals are ordered by stroke count, from one stroke (一 yī, one) to seventeen (龠 yuè, an ancient flute).
The characters inside each radical's section are ordered by the number of strokes added to the radical.
Every character is filed under exactly one radical.

Dictionaries of simplified characters often use a modified list. In 2009 China's Ministry of Education and State Language Commission issued a standard radical table, GF 0011-2009, with 201 main radicals, and many modern dictionaries follow it. The two systems mostly agree, but not always. The traditional form of 问 (wèn, to ask) is filed under 口 in the Kangxi system, while many simplified dictionaries file 问 under 门.

The practical lesson: 214 is the classic number, but you only need a fraction of them to read everyday Chinese. Many Kangxi radicals, such as 龠, appear in only a handful of rare characters.

Meaning Parts and Sound Parts

A few characters are simple pictures, such as 人 (rén, person), 山 (shān, mountain) and 日 (rì, sun). Most, though, combine two parts: one that hints at the meaning and one that hints at the sound. These are called 形声字 (xíngshēngzì), "form and sound characters", and they make up the large majority of Chinese characters. A common estimate is more than eight in ten.

In these characters, the meaning part is usually the radical. Look at what happens when one sound part, 青 (qīng, blue-green), meets different radicals:

Character	Meaning part	Sound part	Pinyin	Meaning
清	氵 water	青	qīng	clear, as in 清楚 (qīngchu, clear)
晴	日 sun	青	qíng	sunny
请	讠 speech	青	qǐng	please; to invite
情	忄 heart	青	qíng	feeling, as in 心情 (xīnqíng, mood)
睛	目 eye	青	jīng	eyeball, as in 眼睛 (yǎnjing, eye)

The radical tells you the topic: water, weather, speech, feelings, eyes. The sound part tells you the character sounds something like "qing". Notice that the hint is not exact: the tones differ, and 睛 even starts with j.

Here is a second family, built on 包 (bāo, to wrap):

饱 (bǎo, full after eating): 饣 food + 包
抱 (bào, to hug): 扌 hand + 包
跑 (pǎo, to run): 足 foot + 包

When the radical is not the meaning part

Radicals are a filing system, so they do not always match the meaning:

Shape only. 不 (bù, not) is filed under 一, which says nothing about its meaning.
Sound part used as the radical. 问 (wèn, to ask) gets its meaning from 口 (mouth) and its sound from 门 (mén), yet many simplified dictionaries file it under 门. The same 门 gives the sound in 闻 (wén, to hear; to smell), whose meaning part is 耳 (ear).
Meaning drift. 笑 (xiào, to laugh) sits under the bamboo radical, and 特 (tè, special) under 牛 (ox). The original links are long forgotten.
Sound drift. Pronunciation has changed over many centuries, so some sound hints have faded. 江 (jiāng, river) uses 工 (gōng) as its sound part.

How Radicals Help You Guess Meaning

Radicals will not give you a definition, but they narrow the possibilities a lot, especially with context. Try this sentence:

我的腿很疼。 Wǒ de tuǐ hěn téng. My leg really hurts.

Even if you have forgotten both key words, 腿 has the body radical 月 and 疼 has the illness radical 疒. A body part that is in pain is a very good guess.

A simple routine when you meet a new character:

Find the radical. It is usually on the left or the top, but some sit at the bottom (心, 灬), on the right (刂, 攵, 页) or around the outside (囗, 门).
Turn it into a category. 氵 means a liquid or water, 扌 a hand action, 月 a body part, 讠 something to do with words.
Use the rest of the character for the sound. If you know the other part, you can often guess roughly how the character is read.
Check against the context. The sentence usually confirms or rules out your guess.

How to Look Up a Character by Its Radical

When you cannot read a character, you cannot search for it by pinyin. A radical index solves this. Here is how it works in a printed dictionary, using 晴 (qíng, sunny):

Identify the radical: 日, which has 4 strokes.
Find 日 in the radical index, where radicals are grouped by their own stroke count.
Count the remaining strokes: 青 has 8.
Look in the 日 section for characters with 8 extra strokes. 晴 is there, with its page number.

If you cannot tell which part is the radical, use the dictionary's total stroke index instead: 晴 has 12 strokes in total.

On a phone it is easier. Most phones let you draw a character with your finger and pick it from a list, and once you know the pinyin you can search by sound. Radicals still help here: once you know the parts of a character, it is much easier to draw it from memory for handwriting input.

Chinese Radicals List: The 50 Most Useful Radicals

Use this table as a Chinese radicals chart to keep beside your word lists. It is ordered roughly by how often each radical turns up in the characters of the HSK 1 to 6 word lists, so the top rows pay off fastest. Other forms shows the full, standalone or traditional form you may also see. Every example character comes from a word in the HSK lists, and the pinyin is the reading it has in those words.

#	Radical	Other forms	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK examples
1	扌	手	shǒu	hand; things done with the hands	打 dǎ, 推 tuī, 拿 ná
2	口	–	kǒu	mouth; eating, speaking, sounds	吃 chī, 喝 hē, 叫 jiào
3	亻	人	rén	person	你 nǐ, 他 tā, 休 xiū
4	氵	水	shuǐ	water, liquids	河 hé, 海 hǎi, 洗 xǐ
5	木	–	mù	tree, wood	树 shù, 桌 zhuō, 椅 yǐ
6	忄	心	xīn	heart, mind, feelings	忙 máng, 怕 pà, 想 xiǎng
7	辶	辵	chuò	walking, movement	进 jìn, 远 yuǎn, 送 sòng
8	讠	言	yán	speech, words	说 shuō, 话 huà, 语 yǔ
9	月	肉	yuè; ròu	moon; in most characters, flesh and the body	脸 liǎn, 脚 jiǎo, 腿 tuǐ
10	纟	糸	mì	silk, thread	红 hóng, 线 xiàn, 绿 lǜ
11	宀	–	mián	roof, house	家 jiā, 室 shì, 安 ān
12	阝	阜 (left), 邑 (right)	fù; yì	on the left: hill; on the right: town	院 yuàn, 阳 yáng (left); 邮 yóu (right)
13	土	–	tǔ	earth, soil, ground	地 dì, 场 chǎng, 城 chéng
14	日	–	rì	sun, day, time	早 zǎo, 晚 wǎn, 晴 qíng
15	艹	艸	cǎo	grass, plants	花 huā, 草 cǎo, 茶 chá
16	贝	貝	bèi	shell; money, value	贵 guì, 费 fèi, 货 huò
17	刂	刀	dāo	knife, cutting	刻 kè, 切 qiē, 分 fēn
18	火	灬	huǒ	fire, heat	灯 dēng, 烧 shāo, 热 rè
19	女	–	nǚ	woman	妈 mā, 姐 jiě, 她 tā
20	钅	金	jīn	metal, gold	钱 qián, 钟 zhōng, 铁 tiě
21	竹	⺮ (on top)	zhú	bamboo	笔 bǐ, 筷 kuài, 箱 xiāng
22	禾	–	hé	grain, crops	秋 qiū, 种 zhòng, 科 kē
23	攵	攴	pū	tapping; deliberate action	放 fàng, 收 shōu, 改 gǎi
24	足	⻊ (on the left)	zú	foot, leg	跑 pǎo, 跳 tiào, 路 lù
25	页	頁	yè	head (as a word: page)	顶 dǐng, 领 lǐng, 题 tí
26	衤	衣	yī	clothing	裤 kù, 裙 qún, 袜 wà
27	力	–	lì	strength, effort	动 dòng, 努 nǔ, 助 zhù
28	门	門	mén	door, gate	间 jiān, 闭 bì, 闪 shǎn
29	囗	–	wéi	enclosure, border	国 guó, 园 yuán, 图 tú
30	目	–	mù	eye	看 kàn, 眼 yǎn, 睡 shuì
31	石	–	shí	stone, rock	碗 wǎn, 破 pò, 硬 yìng
32	王	玉	yù	jade, precious stones	玩 wán, 球 qiú, 环 huán
33	车	車	chē	vehicle, cart	辆 liàng, 轮 lún, 转 zhuǎn
34	广	–	yǎn	building, shelter	店 diàn, 床 chuáng, 座 zuò
35	彳	–	chì	step, walking	往 wǎng, 得 dé, 待 dài
36	犭	犬	quǎn	dog; animals	狗 gǒu, 猫 māo, 猴 hóu
37	冫	–	bīng	ice, cold	冷 lěng, 冰 bīng, 冻 dòng
38	礻	示	shì	spirits, blessings, rites	祝 zhù, 福 fú, 神 shén
39	田	–	tián	field, farmland	男 nán, 界 jiè
40	疒	–	nè	illness	病 bìng, 疼 téng, 痛 tòng
41	皿	–	mǐn	dish, container	盘 pán, 盒 hé, 盆 pén
42	酉	–	yǒu	wine jar; alcohol	酒 jiǔ, 醉 zuì, 醒 xǐng
43	饣	食	shí	food, eating	饭 fàn, 饿 è, 饱 bǎo
44	米	–	mǐ	rice, grain	粮 liáng, 糖 táng, 粥 zhōu
45	走	–	zǒu	walking, running	起 qǐ, 超 chāo, 赶 gǎn
46	山	–	shān	mountain	岛 dǎo, 岸 àn, 峰 fēng
47	耳	–	ěr	ear	聪 cōng, 聊 liáo, 职 zhí
48	穴	–	xué	cave, hole	空 kōng, 窗 chuāng, 穿 chuān
49	雨	–	yǔ	rain, weather	雪 xuě, 雷 léi, 零 líng
50	马	馬	mǎ	horse	骑 qí, 驾 jià, 骗 piàn

A few notes on the table:

Pinyin is the reading of the radical as a character. Some are read differently as everyday words: 王 on its own is wáng (king), but as a radical it stands for 玉 (yù, jade). 广 on its own is guǎng (wide), while its traditional reading as a radical is yǎn.
月 has two origins. In a few characters it really is the moon, but in most, including body parts like 脸 and 腿, it comes from 肉 (ròu, meat).
阝 is two radicals that look the same. On the left it comes from 阜 (hill), as in 院 and 阳. On the right it comes from 邑 (town), as in 邮 and 都 (dū, capital).
贝 is linked to money because shells were once used as money in China, which is why 贵 (expensive) and 费 (fee) carry it.
Full and traditional forms are listed where the simplified radical looks different: 讠/言, 钅/金, 饣/食, 纟/糸, 贝/貝, 门/門, 车/車, 页/頁 and 马/馬.

How to Learn Radicals Quickly

Start with the top 20. They are the radicals you will see most often, from your very first HSK 1 words.
Learn them inside words you know. If you know 你 and 他, you already know 亻. Point out the radical every time you learn a new character.
Group new words by radical. 冷, 冰 and 冻 are all cold; 饭, 饿 and 饱 are all about food. Groups are easier to remember than single words.
Write them by hand. Writing each radical with the right stroke order fixes its shape in memory. The tingxie dictation method is a good way to test yourself.
Review a little every day. A few minutes of spaced repetition beats one long session a week.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Chinese radicals are there?

The traditional system has 214 radicals, called the Kangxi radicals after the Kangxi Dictionary of 1716, which made them the standard. Modern dictionaries of simplified characters often use a slightly different set: a 2009 standard from China's Ministry of Education has 201 main radicals.

What are the most common Chinese radicals?

In the HSK 1 to 6 word lists, the radicals you meet most often are 扌 (hand), 口 (mouth), 亻 (person), 氵 (water) and 木 (tree), followed by 忄 or 心 (heart), 辶 (movement) and 讠 (speech).

Do I need to learn all 214 radicals?

No. Many of the 214 appear in only a few rare characters. About seven in ten of the characters that start a word in the HSK 1 to 6 lists are filed under one of the 50 radicals in this list, so these 50 are a far better place to start.

Does a radical always tell you what a character means?

No. It often points to a category of meaning, but some characters are filed under a radical only because of their shape, like 不 (bù, not) under 一. In others the meaning has drifted, like 笑 (xiào, to laugh) under the bamboo radical. Treat the radical as a hint, then check the context.

What is the difference between a radical and a component?

A component is any building block of a character. The radical is the one component a dictionary uses to file the character, and it is usually the part that hints at the meaning. 请 (qǐng, please) has two components, 讠 and 青, and its radical is 讠.

Are radicals the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

The idea is the same, but some radicals look different. Simplified characters use shorter forms such as 讠 for 言, 钅 for 金, 饣 for 食 and 纟 for 糸, and a few characters are filed under a different radical in modern simplified dictionaries.

What's Next

Radicals make the most sense when you meet them in real words. Work through the HSK 1 vocabulary list and point out the radical in each new character, then use the tingxie method to write them from memory. If the sounds are still new to you, start with our pinyin chart.

Learn Chinese is free to download on iOS and Android, with no account and no ads, and HSK 1 and 2 are free in full. Its radicals drill, character writing with stroke order and a dictionary of all 5,456 HSK 1 to 6 words help you put this list to work. Learn Chinese Pro unlocks HSK 3 to 6, and the app guide shows how each feature works.