The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

human, person, ren2 Note similarity to , which means eight.
people
mouth, opening kou3 Note similarity to , which always en-
closes characters, and means enclosure.
earth tu3 Note similarity to , which has a longer
upper stroke and shorter bottom one,
and means scholar.
woman, female nv3
heart xin1


hand shou3


sun, day ri4 Note similarity to , which is broader
and lower, and means to say. Also note
which means white.
moon, month yue4 This radical is actually two: moon and
meat , but in modern Chinese, they
look the same in most cases.
tree mu4 Note similarity to , which means grain.
water shui3 Note similarity to , which means ice.

1
 The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

re huo3

silk (mi4)


grass cao3 Note that when the radical is on top, the
traditional variant has four strokes.
speech yan2
walk (chuo4)
gold, metal jin1
knife, sword dao1 Note similarity to , which means force.

roof (mian2) Note similarity to , which means cover,
and to , which means lid.
shell bei4 Note similarity to , which means to see.
one yi1
power, force li4 Note similarity to , which means knife.
right hand you4
dog (quan3) Note similarity to , which means big.

grain (he2) Note similarity to , which means tree.
bamboo zhu2

2
 The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

insect chong2 Even though this radical means insect,
it's used for many organisms which
aren't insects according to our taxon-
omy.
: : mound, dam (fu4) Note that there are two radicals which
look like this. On the left, it means
mound, dam, and on the right, it means
city.
big, very da4
house on cli guang3 Note similarity to , which means cli
(i.e. without the house).
eld tian2
eye mu4 Note that the horizontal version can also
mean net.
stone shi2
clothes yi1 Note similarity to , which means sign,
show or spirit.
foot zu2
horse ma3
leaf ye4
turban, scarf (jin1)
rice mi3
cart, vehicle che1

3
 The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

eight ba1 Note similarity to , which means hu-
man, person.
corpse shi1 Note similarity to , which means door,
family.
thumb, inch cun4
mountain shan1
knock, tap (pu1) Note similarity to , which means to
walk (slowly).

(small) step (chi2) Note similarity to , which means hu-
man, person.
ten shi2
work gong1
square, raft fang1 Note similarity to , which means ten
thousand.
gate men2
eat, food shi2
lack, yawn qian4
human, legs er2 Note similarity to , which means hu-
man, person, and to which means
eight.
ice bing1
child, seed zi3
sickness (ne4)

4
 The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

(short-tailed) (zhui1)
bird
axe, pound (jin1)
lid (tou2) Note similarity to , which means roof,
and which means cover.
jade, king yu4, This radical is , but when in composi-
wang2 tion, it looks like , king, and is probably
more easily remembered like that.
white bai2 Note similarity to , which means sun.
stand, erect li4
sheep yang2
stopping (gen4)
cover (mi4)
cli (han4) Note similarity to , which has a house
on top (the dot).
dish (min3)
sign, spirit, show shi4 Note similarity to , which means
clothes.
cave xue4
run, walk zou3
rain yu3
enclosure (wei2) Note similarity to , which does not
enclose other components and means
mouth.

5
 The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

small xiao3
halberd, spear (ge1) Note similarity to , which means catch,
arrest.
table ji1
tongue she2
dry gan1
weapon (shu1)
evening, sunset xi1 Note similarity to , which means bad,
vicious.
stop zhi3
cow niu2
skin pi2
ear er3
bitter xin1
: : city (yi4) Note that there are two radicals which
look like this. On the left, it means
mound, dam, and on the right, it means
city.
wine (you3)
green/blue qing1
bird niao3 Note similarity to , which means crow,
black.
bow gong1

6
 The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals

SC TC Variant Meaning Pinyin Examples Comments Colloquial

private si1
door, house hu4 Note similarity to , which means
corpse.
feather yu3
boat chuan2
village, mile li3
spoon (bi3)
go (slowly) (sui1) Note similarity to , which means to
knock, to rap.
see jian4 Note similarity to , which means shell.
seal (jie2)
net wang3 Note that the horizontal version can also
mean net.
scholar shi4 Note similarity to , which means earth.
embrace, wrap (bao1)

Source: http://www.hackingchinese.com/kickstart-your-character-learning-with-the-100-most-common-radicals/

Typeset by Markus Ackermann, http://github.com/saigyo, using XELATEX.