The concept of key

Every character has one and only one radical with the function of "key", which
allows to find a character into a dictionary. In many cases, the radical on the left
or on the top of a character is the key. However, with the increase of the use of
digital dictionaries on smartphone, in which you can draw the character,
knowing keys become less critical.

Examples
爸 bà, which means dad, is made of 2 radicals:

 父 fù (father), is the semantic radical, and also the key

 巴 bā (to wish), is the phonetics radical
好 hǎo, which means good, is made of 2 radicals:

 女 nǚ (woman), is the semantic radical, and also the key

 子 zi (child), is a component with a semantic function (because to
express that something is good, we associate a mother and a child),
but there is no phonetics function of the radical to help for the
pronunciation.

Work your own way to remember each of

them
Each of us has his personal idea, history, conviction or preference when it comes
to mnemonics to remember things.

For instance, in our previous exemple for 好 hǎo, we could think of it this way:

女+子=好

woman + child = good, well (好 hǎo)

"When a woman sticks to her child, it is good"

Sometimes, you have ideas, sometimes you do not. HSK Academy supports you
and will keep delivering means to remember more easily radicals and characters,
just as for the four ones on the top of this article. Stay tuned by following
our facebook page.

As soon as you'll be ready, get your copy of the official HSK lists and start to
prepare!
 Number Key Pinyin

1 一 yī o

2 丨 gǔn l

3 丶 zhǔ s

4 丿乀乁 fú o

5 乙乚乛 yǐ s

6 亅 jué h

7 二 èr t

8 亠 tóu s

9 人亻 rén m

10 儿 er c

11 入 rù t

12 八丷 bā e

13 冂 jiōng s

14 冖 mì t

15 冫 bīng i

16 几 jǐ t
 Number Key Pinyin

17 凵 qiǎn c

18 刂刁刀ク dāo k

19 力 lì f

20 勹 bāo t

21 匕 bǐ s

22 匚 fāng o

23 匸 xì t

24 十 shí t

25 卜 bo d

26 卩 jié s

27 厂 chǎng p

28 厶 sī s

29 又ヌ yòu s

30 口 kǒu m

31 囗 wéi e

32 土 tǔ e
 Number Key Pinyin

33 士 shì s

34 夂 zhǐ t

35 夊 suī g

36 夕 xī e

37 大 dà b

38 女 nǚ w

39 子 zi c

40 宀 mián r

41 寸 cùn t

42 小⺌⺍ xiǎo s

43 尢 yóu w

44 尸 shī d

45 屮 chè g

46 山 shān m

47 川巛 chuān r

48 工 gōng w
 Number Key Pinyin

49 己 jǐ p

50 巾 jīn t

51 干 gàn d

52 幺 yāo t

53 广 guǎng s

54 廴 yǐn g

55 廾 gǒng t

56 弋 yì a

57 弓 gōng b

58 彐彑 jì s

59 彡 shān b

60 彳 chì w

61 心忄 xīn h

62 戈 gē h

63 戶户 hù g

64 手扌才 shǒu h
 Number Key Pinyin

65 支 zhī b

66 攴攵 pū t

67 文 wén w

68 斗 dòu m

69 斤 jīn a

70 方 fāng s

71 无 wú w

72 日 rì s

73 曰 yuē t

74 月 yuè m

75 木朩 mù t

76 欠 qiàn t

77 止 zhǐ t

78 歹 dǎi d

79 殳 shū w

80 母毋毌 mǔ m
 Number Key Pinyin

81 比 bǐ t

82 毛 máo f

83 氏 shì c

84 气 qì a

85 水氵氺 shuǐ w

86 火灬 huǒ f

87 爪爫 zhǎo c

88 父 fù f

89 爻 yáo d

90 爿 pán s

91 片 piàn s

92 牙 yá t

93 牛牜⺧ niú b

94 犬犭 quǎn d

95 玄 xuán d

96 王玉 yù j
 Number Key Pinyin

97 瓜 guā m

98 瓦 wǎ t

99 甘 gān s

100 生 shēng b

101 用 yòng t

102 田 tián f

103 疋⺪ pǐ r

104 疒 nè d

105 癶 bō t

106 白 bái w

107 皮 pí s

108 皿 mǐn c

109 目 mù e

110 矛 máo s

111 矢 shǐ a

112 石 shí s
 Number Key Pinyin

113 示礻 shì t

114 禸 róu g

115 禾 hé g

116 穴 xué c

117 立 lì s

118 竹⺮ケ shì b

119 米 mǐ r

120 糸纟 mì s

121 缶 fǒu j

122 网罒罓罓 wǎng n

123 羊⺶⺷ yáng s

124 羽 yǔ f

125 老耂 lǎo o

126 而 ér a

127 耒 lěi p

128 耳 ěr e
 Number Key Pinyin

129 聿 yù b

130 肉月 ròu m

131 臣 chén m

132 自 zì p

133 至 zhì t

134 臼 jiù m

135 舌 shé t

136 舛 chuǎn t

137 舟 zhōu b

138 艮 gěn d

139 色 sè c

140 艹 cao v

141 虍 hū t

142 虫 chóng i

143 血 xuè b

144 行 xíng c
 Number Key Pinyin

145 衣衤 yī c

146 西覀 xi l

147 见 jiàn t

148 角 jiǎo h

149 言讠 yán s

150 谷 gǔ v

151 豆 dòu p

152 豕 chù p

153 豸 zhì f

154 贝 bèi s

155 赤 chì r

156 走 zǒu t

157 足 zú f

158 身 shēn b

159 车 chē c

160 辛 xīn b
 Number Key Pinyin

161 辰 chén m

162 辶 chuò b

163 阝 (邑) fù c

164 酉 yǒu a

165 釆 biàn t

166 里 lǐ n

167 金钅 jīn g

168 长 zhǎng l

169 门 mén g

170 阝(阜) fù m

171 隶 lì s

172 隹 zhuī s

173 雨 yǔ r

174 青 qīng b

175 非 fēi f

176 面 miàn f
 Number Key Pinyin

177 革 gé l

178 韦 wéi t

179 韭 jiǔ l

180 音 yīn s

181 页頁 yè h

182 风 fēng w

183 飞 fēi t

184 食饣 shí t

185 首 shǒu h

186 香 xiāng p

187 马 mǎ h

188 骨 gǔ b

189 高 gāo h

190 髟 biāo h

191 鬥 dòu f

192 鬯 chàng s
 Number Key Pinyin

193 鬲 gé c

194 鬼 guǐ g

195 鱼 yú f

196 鸟 niǎo b

197 鹵 lǔ s

198 鹿 lù d

199 麦 mài c

200 麻 má h

201 黃 huáng y

202 黍 shǔ m

203 黑 hēi b

204 黹 zhǐ e

205 黾 miǎn f

206 鼎 dǐng t

207 鼓 gǔ d

208 鼠 shǔ r
 Number Key Pinyin

209 鼻 bí n

210 齐 qí r

211 齿 chǐ t

212 龙 lóng d

213 龟 guī t

214 龠 yuè f

In the meantime, review this list regularly:

The complete list of radicals