每日中文 Daily ZhongWen

【Part 4. № 61-82】汉字部首 Chinese Radicals

⬅️汉字部首 - № 61-82

Today, I am going to introduce 22 radicals related to animals. We will learn their original scripts and related characters and words.

Most radicals are also pictograph characters. But in today's video, I will introduce a radical which is a compound ideograph character(会意字).

Let's take a look.

汉字部首 第4部分 61-82


Chinese Radicals:
马🐎 牛🐮 牜🐂 羊🐑 豕🐖 犭 犬 豸 鸟🐦 隹 鱼🐠 虫🐞 鼠 龙 鹿 革 皮 角 羽 毛 髟 彡
  1. 【马】 ✏️ horse 📢 /mǎ/
    马字旁 / 马字底(Bottom) mǎzìpáng / mǎzìdǐ
    马 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a horse.
  2. 【牛】 ✏️ cow | bull 📢 /niú/
    牛字底(Bottom) niúzìdǐ
    牛 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script resembles a bull's head facing forward.
  3. 【牜】 ✏️ cow | bull 📢 /niú/
    牛字旁 niúzìpáng
    牜 is originated from the character 牛. This radical is placed on the left side of the characters.
  4. 【羊】 ✏️ sheep | goat 📢 /yáng/
    羊字旁 / 羊字头(Top) yángzìpáng / yángzìtóu
    羊 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a goat's head facing forward.
  5. 【豕】 ✏️ pig 📢 /shǐ/
    豕字旁 shǐzìpáng
    豕 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a pig. 豕 is the general term of pig, swine and hog.
  6. 【犬】 ✏️ dog 📢 /quǎn/
    犬字旁 quǎnzìpáng
    犬 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a big dog.
  7. 【犭】 ✏️ dog 📢 /quǎn/
    反犬旁 fǎnquǎnpáng
    犭 is originated from the character 犬. The oracle bone script of 犬 resembles a big dog. In ancient times, 犬 specifically referred to big dogs. 狗 referred to small dogs.
  8. 【豸】 ✏️ beast with long spine | legless insect 📢 /zhì/
    豸字旁 zhìzìpáng
    豸 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts an animal with a round head, a long spine and a tail. The meaning of this character was later extended as "legless insect".
  9. 【鸟】 ✏️ bird 📢 /niǎo/
    鸟字旁 niǎozìpáng
    鸟 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a large bird.
  10. 【隹】 ✏️ short-tailed bird 📢 /zhuī/
    隹字旁 zhuīzìpáng
    隹 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a short-tailed bird. It originally referred to sparrows.
  11. 【鱼】 ✏️ fish 📢 /yú/
    鱼字旁 yúzìpáng
    鱼 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a fish.
  12. 【虫】 ✏️ insect | worm 📢 /chóng/
    虫字旁 / 虫字底(Bottom) chóngzìpáng / chóngzìdǐ
    The oracle bone script of 虫 depicts a venomous snake. In ancient times, 虫 was the general term of all animals and insects.
  13. 【鼠】 ✏️ rat | mouse 📢 /shǔ/
    鼠字旁 shǔzìpáng
    鼠 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a rat.
  14. 【龙】 ✏️ dragon 📢 /lóng/
    龙字旁 lóngzìpáng
    龙 is pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a legendary mythical creature.
  15. 【鹿】 ✏️ deer 📢 /lù/
    鹿字旁 / 鹿字头(Top) lùzìpáng / lùzìtóu
    鹿 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a standing deer with large antlers.
  16. 【革】 ✏️ leather | rawhide 📢 /gé/
    革字旁 gézìpáng
    革 is a pictograph character. Its original script resembles a peeled animal skin, meaning leather.
  17. 【皮】 ✏️ skin 📢 /pí/
    皮字旁 pízìpáng
    The original script of 皮 resembles skinning an animal with a hand. The component on the right bottom corner is 又 which means hand.
  18. 【角】 ✏️ horn 📢 /jiǎo/
    角字旁 jiǎozìpáng
    角 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script is like an animal horn.
  19. 【羽】 ✏️ feathers | wings 📢 /yǔ/
    羽字旁 / 羽字头(Top) /羽字底 (Bottom) yǔzìpáng / yǔzìtóu / yǔzìdǐ
    羽 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script depicts a long bird feather.
  20. 【毛】 ✏️ fur | hair 📢 /máo/
    毛字旁 / 毛字底(Bottom) máozìpáng / máozìdǐ
    "毛" is a pictograph character. Its original meaning is animal hair.
  21. 【彡】 ✏️ hair | beard | pattern 📢 /shān/
    三撇 sānpiě
    彡 is a pictograph character. Its oracle bone script is 3 left-falling strokes, referring to "hair, beard or pattern".
  22. 【髟】 ✏️ long flowing hair 📢 /biāo/
    鬓字头 bìnzìtóu
    髟 is a compound ideograph character(会意字). It is formed by two other radicals, 长(long) and 彡(hair). The oracle bone script of 髟 resembles long flowing hair. 长 is the simplified form of 長. The variant form 镸 is used on the left side of 髟.
A total of 135 HSK characters contain these 22 radicals. From these characters we can learn 554 HSK words. Compared with the first 3 videos, the characters and words associated with these radicals are much less. They all related to animals, which makes them more vivid and easy to remember.