⬅️汉字部首 - № 22 - 42
A Chinese radical is used as an indexing component to categorize characters. It is usually the main semantic component of a character. Most of the radicals themselves are also characters, and many of them are pictograph characters.
Today, I am going to introduce another 21 of them. I will interpret the meaning of each radical from its original script.
汉字部首 【Part 2. № 22 - 42】
Chinese Radicals: 口,气,欠,牙,齿,舌,言,讠,目,见,自,鼻,耳,忄,心,身,页,首,骨,月,肉-
1. 【口】 ✏️ mouth 📢 /kǒu/
口字旁 kǒuzìpáng
口 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles an open mouth. -
2. 【气】 ✏️ steam | air | breath 📢 /qì/
气字头 qìzìtóu
气 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles the floating clouds, meaning "steam, air or breath". -
3. 【欠】 ✏️ open mouth | yawn with mouth open 📢 /qiàn/
欠字旁 qiànzìpáng
欠 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles a person yawning with mouth open. -
4. 【牙】 ✏️ teeth | molars 📢 /yá/
牙字旁 yázìpáng
牙 is a pictograph character. Its original script resembles that the upper and lower teeth are staggered. In ancient times, 牙 means molars and 齿 means incisors. -
5. 【齿】 ✏️ teeth 📢 /chǐ/
齿字旁 chǐzìpáng
齿 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts the teeth in mouth. -
6. 【舌】 ✏️ tongue 📢 /shé/
舌字旁 shézìpáng
The oracle bone script of 舌 depicts a tongue sticking out a mouth. -
7. 【言】 ✏️ speech 📢 /yán/
言字底 yánzìdǐ
言 is a pictograph character. In oracle bone script, the lower part of this character is "tongue"(舌 shé). A horizontal stroke on the top expresses "to speak with a tongue". 言字底 is placed on the bottom of a character. -
8. 【讠】 ✏️ speech 📢 /yán/
言字旁 yánzìpáng
言 is the original character of the radical "讠". Usually the radical "讠" is placed on the left side of the character. -
9. 【目】 ✏️ eye 📢 /mù/
目字旁 mùzìpáng
目 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a human eye. Nowadays, when talking about eyes, people mostly use "Yǎn" 眼. 目 is often used in the written language. -
10. 【见】 ✏️ see 📢 /jiàn/
见字旁 jiànzìpáng
The oracle bone script of 见 depicts a kneeling person with a big eye, meaning "to see". -
11. 【自】 ✏️ nose | self 📢 /zì/
自字头 zìzìtóu
自 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a human nose. -
12. 【鼻】 ✏️ nose 📢 /bí/
鼻字旁 bízìpáng
The upper part of 鼻 is 自 which is a semantic component, meaning "nose". The phonetic component 畀(bì) below 自 represents the pronunciation of the character. -
13. 【耳】 ✏️ ear 📢 /ěr/
耳字旁 ěrzìpáng
耳 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles a human ear. -
14. 【忄】 ✏️ heart | psychology | emotions 📢 /xīn/
竖心旁 shùxīnpáng
The radical 忄 is originated from the character 心. This radical is always placed on the left side of a character. -
15. 【心】 ✏️ heart | psychology | emotions 📢 /xīn/
心字底 xīnzìdǐ
心 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a human heart. In ancient times, people believed that the heart was not only an organ for pumping blood, but also an organ for thinking. -
16. 【身】 ✏️ body 📢 /shēn/
身字旁 shēnzìpáng
身 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles a pregnant woman. -
17. 【页】 ✏️ head | face 📢 /yè/
页字旁 yè zì páng
页 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script is like a kneeling person with one's head prominently depicted. Radical “页” means head or face. When used as a word, it means page. -
18. 【首】 ✏️ head 📢 /shǒu/
首字旁 shǒuzìpáng
首 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a head with hair on the top and eye on the face. -
19. 【骨】 ✏️ bone 📢 /gǔ/
骨字旁 gǔzìpáng
The oracle bone script of 骨 resembles skeleton bones. -
20. 【月】 ✏️ flesh | moon 📢 /rou | yuè/
月字旁 yuè zì páng
月 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles a crescent moon in the sky.
The radical 月 is commonly known as 月字旁(Yuè Zì Páng). Most of characters having it are related to flesh (肉-ròu); A few of them are related to the moon or time, such as 望; And very few are boat (舟-zhōu) miswritten as 月, such as 朕. -
21. 【肉】 ✏️ meat | flesh 📢 /ròu/
肉字旁 ròuzìpáng
肉 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles a big piece of meat.
From these 21 radicals we can learn 492 HSK characters, and from these characters we can learn 3137 HSK words! Is that amazing?
Radicals are most frequently used components in characters. They can help you better understand and memorize thousands of characters.