Why should I learn Chinese radicals?

Learning radicals helps you: (1) Look up characters in dictionaries by radical and stroke count, (2) Understand character meanings through radical clues, (3) Remember characters by breaking them into meaningful components, and (4) Write characters correctly by following consistent stroke order rules.

How do I use radicals to look up Chinese characters?

To look up a character using radicals: (1) Identify the radical component in the character, (2) Count the radical's strokes, (3) Find the radical in a radical index, (4) Count the remaining strokes after removing the radical, (5) Look up the character under that radical by additional stroke count.

What is the difference between a radical and a component?

A radical is a specific component used for dictionary indexing - every character has exactly one radical. A component is any part of a character. For example, 好 has the radical 女 (woman), but it also contains the component 子 (child). Not all components are radicals.

How many strokes does each radical have?

Chinese radicals range from 1 to 17 strokes. The most common radicals have 1-5 strokes. For example: 一 (1 stroke), 人 (2 strokes), 口 (3 strokes), 心 (4 strokes), and 水 (4 strokes). You can browse radicals by stroke count on this page.

Do radicals have meanings?

Yes, most radicals have meanings that often relate to the characters they appear in. For example, 氵(water radical) appears in characters related to water or liquids like 河 (river), 海 (sea), and 汤 (soup). Understanding radical meanings helps you guess character meanings.

Chinese Radicals List (部首)

Q: What are Chinese radicals?

Chinese radicals (部首, bù shǒu) are the building blocks of Chinese characters. They are components that often provide clues to a character's meaning or pronunciation. There are 214 traditional Kangxi radicals, organized by stroke count from 1 to 17 strokes.

Browse all 214 Kangxi radicals organized by stroke count. Click any radical to find Chinese characters with stroke order, meanings, and HSK levels.

214

Chinese Radicals

Stroke Groups

1Stroke

3 radicals

一

3Strokes

38 radicals

口

Mouth

kou

181 chars

囗

Enclosure

wei

16 chars

土

Earth

67 chars

士

Scholar

shi

7 chars

夕

Evening

6 chars

大

Big

26 chars

女

Woman

nü

64 chars

子

Child

15 chars

宀

Roof

mian

4 chars

寸

Inch

cun

11 chars

小

Small

xiao

10 chars

尢

Lame

wang

4 chars

尸

Corpse

shi

22 chars

山

Mountain

shan

30 chars

巛

River

chuan

2 chars

川

Radical 川

chuan

2 chars

工

Work

gong

7 chars

己

Self

2 chars

巳

Radical 巳

3 chars

巾

Towel

jin

25 chars

干

Dry

gan

5 chars

幺

Short thread

yao

3 chars

广

House on cliff

guang

26 chars

廾

Two hands

gong

6 chars

弋

Shoot

2 chars

弓

Bow

gong

12 chars

彡

Bristle

shan

3 chars

忄

Heart

Hand

Water

var. 水

shui· Three dots water

30 chars

犭

Radical 犭

quan

4 chars

纟

Radical 纟

4 chars

艹

Grass

Walk

Radical 门

men

21 chars

飞

Radical 飞

fei

1 chars

饣

Radical 饣

shi

2 chars

马

Radical 马

25 chars

4Strokes

45 radicals

厄

Radical 厄

2 chars

心

Heart

xin

49 chars

戈

Spear

14 chars

户

Radical 户

5 chars

手

Hand

shou

12 chars

支

Branch

zhi

1 chars

攴

Knock

1 chars

攵

Radical 攵

21 chars

文

Script

wen

4 chars

斗

Dipper

dou

4 chars

斤

Axe

jin

7 chars

方

Square

fang

7 chars

日

Sun

61 chars

曰

Say

yue

7 chars

月

Moon

yue

74 chars

木

Tree

144 chars

欠

Lack

qian

11 chars

止

Stop

zhi

7 chars

歹

Death

dai

7 chars

殳

Weapon

shu

6 chars

比

Compare

3 chars

毛

Fur

mao

4 chars

氏

Clan

shi

3 chars

气

Steam

7 chars

水

Water

shui

8 chars

火

Fire

huo

46 chars

灬

Fire

Claw

zhua

2 chars

爫

Radical 爫

zhao

1 chars

父

Father

4 chars

爻

Trigrams

yao

1 chars

片

Slice

pian

3 chars

牙

Tooth

1 chars

牛

Cow

niu

5 chars

犬

Dog

quan

3 chars

王

Radical 王

wang

32 chars

瓦

Tile

3 chars

礻

Spirit

Radical ⺼

⺼

11 chars

见

Radical 见

jian

8 chars

贝

Radical 贝

bei

47 chars

车

Radical 车

che

24 chars

长

Radical 长

chang

1 chars

韦

Radical 韦

wei

2 chars

风

Radical 风

feng

3 chars

7Strokes

16 radicals

角

Horn

jiao

3 chars

言

Speech

yan

6 chars

谷

Valley

2 chars

豆

Bean

dou

2 chars

豕

Pig

shi

4 chars

豸

Badger

zhi

3 chars

赤

Red

chi

3 chars

走

Run

zou

11 chars

足

Foot

38 chars

身

Body

shen

5 chars

辛

Bitter

xin

8 chars

辰

Morning

chen

2 chars

邑

City

1 chars

酉

Wine

you

19 chars

里

Village

4 chars

麦

Radical 麦

mai

1 chars

8Strokes

9 radicals

采

Radical 采

cai

2 chars

金

Metal

jin

2 chars

隶

Capture

1 chars

隹

Short-tailed bird

zhui

10 chars

雨

Rain

18 chars

青

Radical 青

qing

3 chars

非

Wrong

fei

3 chars

鱼

Radical 鱼

12 chars

齿

Radical 齿

chi

2 chars

9Strokes

9 radicals

面

Face

mian

1 chars

革

Leather

7 chars

韭

Leek

jiu

1 chars

音

Sound

yin

3 chars

飠

Eat

var. 食

shi· Eat radical

首

Head

shou

1 chars

香

Fragrant

xiang

2 chars

骨

Bone

3 chars

鬼

Ghost

gui

7 chars

10Strokes

2 radicals

高

Tall

gao

1 chars

髟

Hair

biao

2 chars

11Strokes

3 radicals

鹿

Deer

2 chars

麻

Hemp

1 chars

黄

Radical 黄

huang

1 chars

12Strokes

3 radicals

黍

Millet

shu

2 chars

黑

Black

hei

3 chars

鼎

Tripod

ding

1 chars

13Strokes

2 radicals

鼓

Drum

1 chars

鼠

Rat

shu

1 chars

14Strokes

1 radical

鼻

Nose

1 chars

What are Chinese Radicals?

Chinese radicals (部首, bù shǒu) are the building blocks of Chinese characters. Each radical is a component that often provides a clue to the character's meaning or pronunciation. There are 214 traditional Kangxi radicals, organized by stroke count from 1 to 17 strokes.

Radicals serve as the primary indexing system in Chinese dictionaries. By identifying a character's radical and counting the remaining strokes, you can quickly look up any character—even if you don't know its pronunciation. This makes radicals essential for both learners and native speakers.

Why Learn Chinese Radicals?

📖Dictionary Lookup

Find any character in a dictionary by radical and stroke count, even without knowing pronunciation.

💡Meaning Clues

Many radicals hint at a character's meaning. For example, 氵(water) appears in characters related to water or liquids.

🧠Memory Aid

Understanding radicals helps you remember characters by breaking them into meaningful components.

✍️Writing System

Radicals follow consistent stroke order rules, making it easier to write characters correctly.

How to Use This Radical Index

1Search – Type a radical character, meaning, or pinyin in the search box above
2Browse – Scroll through radicals organized by stroke count (1-17 strokes)
3Click – Select any radical to see all characters that contain it
4Learn – View stroke order, meanings, and HSK levels for each character

Other Ways to Find Characters

Know the pronunciation? Search by pinyin for faster results:

拼Browse by Pinyin (拼音)

Pinyin is the romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. Perfect when you know how a character sounds but want to see all characters with that pronunciation.

Chinese Radicals List (部首)

1Stroke

One

Slash

Second

2Strokes

Two

Lid

Person

Person

Son

Enter

Eight

Enclosure

Cover

Ice

Table

Container

Knife

Knife

Power

Wrap

Spoon

Box

Hiding enclosure

Ten

Divination

Radical ⺊

Seal

Cliff

Private

Again

Speech

Mound

3Strokes

Mouth

Enclosure

Earth

Scholar

Evening

Big

Woman

Child

Roof

Inch

Small

Lame

Corpse

Mountain

River

Radical 川

Work

Self

Radical 巳

Towel

Dry

Short thread

House on cliff

Two hands

Shoot

Bow

Bristle

Heart

Hand

Water

Radical 犭

Radical 纟

Grass

Walk

Radical 门

Radical 飞

Radical 饣

Radical 马

4Strokes

Radical 厄

Heart

Spear

Radical 户

Hand

Branch