Chinese Radicals

Chinese characters can be decomposed into components called radicals or bushou. Being able to recognize the common radicals helps in the learning and recognition of new characters. Some but not all radical are complete characters in their own right. Some radicals have more than one form. Chinese characters have resulted in additional variants.The stroke count refer to the main form of the radical only.

Chinese Radical Table
Radical No.	Radical	English	Pinyin	Stroke Count	Variant
1	一	one	yī	1
2	丨	line	shù	1	亅
3	丶	dot	diăn	1
4	丿	slash	piě	1
5	乙	second	yĭ	1	乛⺄乚
6	亅	hook	gōu	1
7	二	two	èr	2
8	亠	lid	tóu	2
9	人	person	rén	2	入  亻
10	儿	legs	ér	2
11	入	enter	rù	2
12	八	eight	bā	2	丷
13	冂	down box	jiŏng	2	⺆
14	冖	cover	mì	2
15	冫	ice	bīng	2
16	几	table	jī	2	⺇
17	凵	open box	qŭ	2
18	刀	knife	dāo	2	⺈刂
19	力	power	lì	2
20	勹	wrap	bāo	2
21	匕	ladle	bĭ	2
22	匚	right open box	fāng	2	匸
23	匸	hiding enclosure	xĭ	2
24	十	ten	shí	2
25	卜	divination	bŭ	2	⺊
26	卩	seal	jié	2	⺋
27	厂	cliff	hàn	2	⺁
28	厶	private	sī	2
29	又	again	yòu	2
30	口	mouth	kŏu	3
31	囗	enclosure	wéi	3
32	土	earth	tŭ	3
33	士	scholar	shì	3
34	夂	go	suī	3
35	夊	go slowly	zhī	3
36	夕	night	xī	3
37	大	big	dà	3
38	女	woman	nǚ	3
39	子	child	zĭ	3
40	宀	roof	gài	3
41	寸	inch	cùn	3
42	小	small	xiăo	3	⺌
43	尢	lame	yóu	3	兀  尣
44	尸	corpse	shī	3
45	屮	sprout	chè	3
46	山	mountain	shān	3
47	川	river	chuān	3	巛
48	工	work	gōng	3
49	己	oneself	jĭ	3	巳
50	巾	towel	jīn	3
51	干	dry	gān	3
52	么	thread	yāo	3
53	广	shelter	guăng	3
54	廴	stride	yĭn	3
55	廾	hands joined	gŏng	3
56	弋	shoot with a bow	yì	3
57	弓	bow	gōng	3
58	彐	snout	jì	3	彑
59	彡	hair	shān	3
60	彳	step	chì	3
61	心	heart	xīn	4	⺗  忄
62	戈	spear	gē	4
63	户	door	hù	4
64	扌	hand	shŏu	4	手
65	支	branch	zhī	4
66	攴	rap	pū	4	攵
67	文	script	wén	4
68	斗	dipper	dŏu	4
69	斤	axe	jīn	4
70	方	square	fāng	4
71	无	not	wú	4	旡
72	日	sun	rì	4	曰⺜
73	曰	say	yuē	4
74	月	moon	yuè	4	⺝
75	木	tree	mù	4
76	欠	lack	qiàn	4
77	止	stop	zhĭ	4
78	歹	death	dăi	4	歺
79	殳	weapon	shū	4
80	毋	mother	mŭ	4	母
81	比	compare	bĭ	4
82	毛	fur	máo	4
83	氏	clan	shì	4	民
84	气	steam	qì	4
85	水	water	shuì	4	氵氺
86	火	fire	huŏ	4	灬
87	爪	claw	zhăo	4	爫
88	父	father	fù	4
89	爻	lines on a trigram	yáo	4
90	爿	half of a tree trunk	qiáng	4	丬
91	片	slice	piàn	4
92	牙	fang	yá	4
93	牛	cow	niú	4	牜
94	犭	dog	quăn	3	犬
95	玄	profound	xuán	5
96	玉	jade	yù	5	王
97	瓜	melon	guā	5
98	瓦	tile	wă	5
99	甘	sweet	gān	5
100	生	life	shēng	5
101	用	use	yòng	5
102	田	field	tián	5
103	疋	cloth	pĭ	5	⺪
104	疒	ill	bìng	5
105	癶	foot steps	bō	5
106	白	white	bái	5
107	皮	skin	pí	5
108	皿	dish	mĭn	5
109	目	eye	mù	5
110	矛	spear	máo	5
111	矢	arrow	shĭ	5
112	石	stone	shí	5
113	示	spirit	shì	5	礻
114	禸	track	róu	4
115	禾	grain	hé	5
116	穴	cave	xuè	5
117	立	stand	lì	5
118	竹	bamboo	zhú	6	⺮
119	米	rice	mĭ	6
120	纟	silk	sī	3	糸
121	缶	jar	fŏu	6
122	网	net	wăng	6	罒罓⺳
123	羊	sheep	yáng	6	⺶⺷
124	羽	feather	yŭ	6
125	耂	old	lăo	6	老
126	而	and	ér	6
127	耒	plow	lěi	6
128	耳	ear	ěr	6
129	聿	brush	yù	6	肀⺻
130	肉	meat	ròu	6
131	臣	minister	chén	6
132	自	oneself	zì	6
133	至	arrive	zhì	6
134	臼	mortar	jiù	6
135	舌	tongue	shé	6
136	舛	contrary	chuăn	6
137	舟	boat	zhōu	6
138	艮	mountain	gèn	6
139	色	color	sè	6
140	艹	grass	căo	3	艸
141	虍	tiger	hŭ	6
142	虫	insect	chóng	6
143	血	blood	xuě	6
144	行	walk	xíng	6
145	衣	clothes	yī	6	衤
146	西	west	xī	6	覀
147	见	see	jiàn	4
148	角	horn	jiăo	7
149	讠	speech	yán	2	言
150	谷	valley	gŭ	7
151	豆	bean	dòu	7
152	豕	pig	shĭ	7
153	豸	badger	zhì	7
154	贝	shell	bèi	4
155	赤	red	chì	7
156	走	walk	zŏu	7
157	足	foot	zú	7
158	身	body	shēn	7
159	车	cart	chē	4
160	辛	bitter	xīn	7
161	辰	morning	chén	7
162	辶	walk	chuò	3
163	邑	city	yì	7	阝right side
164	酉	wine	yŏu	7
165	釆	distinguish	biàn	7
166	里	village	lĭ	7
167	钅	metal	jīn	5	金
168	长	long	cháng	4	镸
169	门	gate	mén	3
170	阜	mound	fù	8	阝left side
171	隶	slave	lì	8
172	隹	short-tailed bird	zhuī	8
173	雨	rain	yŭ	8
174	青	blue	qīng	8
175	非	wrong	fēi	8
176	面	face	miàn	9
177	革	leather	gé	9
178	韦	soft leather	wěi	4
179	韭	leek	jiŭ	9
180	音	sound	yīn	9
181	页	page	yè	6
182	风	wind	fēng	4
183	飞	fly	fēi	4
184	饣	eat	shí	3	食
185	首	head	shŏu	9
186	香	fragrant	xiāng	9
187	马	horse	mă	3
188	骨	bone	gŭ	9
189	高	high	gāo	10
190	髟	long hair	biāo	10
191	鬥	fight	dòu	10
192	鬯	sacrificial wine	chàng	10
193	鬲	cauldron	lì	10
194	鬼	ghost	guĭ	9
195	鱼	fish	yú	8
196	鸟	bird	niăo	5
197	卤	salty	lŭ	7
198	鹿	deer	lù	11
199	麦	wheat	mài	7
200	麻	hemp	má	11
201	黄	yellow	huáng	11
202	黍	millet	shŭ	12
203	黑	black	hēi	12
204	黹	embroidery	zhĭ	12
205	黾	frog	mĭn	8
206	鼎	tripod	dĭng	12
207	鼓	drum	gŭ	13
208	鼠	rat	shŭ	13
209	鼻	nose	bí	14
210	齐	even	qí	6
211	齿	tooth	chĭ	8
212	龙	dragon	lóng	5
213	龟	turtle	guī	7
214	龠	flute	yuè	17

Learn Chinese Vocabulary

I recommend five things for learning Chinese vocabulary:

1.  Context and Exposure



-      See or hear the vocabulary used in context 


Sample contexts:reading material, audio, video, conversation


-      Sometimes you can guess meaning from the situation.


-      What type of word is it (noun, verb, adjective)?


-      Look at the words around it.


-      Try to read or listen to as much Chinese as possible



-      Choose from a variety of sources 
 

     



2.  Pictures and associations


- Sometimes seeing groups of related words can help






3.  Understand Word Parts (Chinese character’s radicals)


Example:

-       Standing person (亻)，if the word have this radical, that means this word about people.

-       Water (氵)， if the word have this radical, that means this word about water.




4.  Recognize collocations (words that go together)





-  Some words are commonly used with other words






5.  Consider connotations and multiple meanings of words


-       Some words can have many different meanings


Example:  rì 日, sun or date

Chinese Tones

Chinese have four tones:

 1 is the low pitch

2 is the mid-low pitch

3 is the middle pitch

4 is the mid-high pitch

5 is the high pitch

First tone is high level tone, keep it at pitch 5.

Second tone is a rising tone, start at  3 rise to 5.

Third tone is falling and rising tone, start at 2, go down to 1 and then rise to 4.

Fourth tone is a falling tone, start at 5 and go down very fast to 1.

Neutral tone is pronounced weakly and short.

Tone change

When a third tone is followed by another third tone, the first one should be changes to the second tone.

e.g. Nĭ hăo! ® Ní hăo! (Hello!)

2. When the word bù is follow by another fourth tone, bù change to the second tone.

e.g. Bù shì. ® Bú shì. ( No or Not.)

3. When the word yī(one) is follow by the first, second and third tones, yī changes to the fourth tone.

e.g. yī tiān ® yì tiān ( one day )

       yī nián ® yì nián ( one year )

       yī diăn ® yì diăn ( one o’clock or one dot or a little bit )

When the word yī is follow by another fourth tone, yī change to the second tone.

e.g. yī bàn ® yí bàn ( half )