All Questions
Tagged with radicals characters
34 questions
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4
answers
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Could this kind of a component-based null cipher be possible in Chinese?
I'm writing a story set partially in historic China, and it involves a network of secret agents who seek to communicate over the mail in innocuous-looking letters. So I need a description of a pen-and-...
- 151
2
votes
6
answers
557
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I am trying to understand 写
冖 + 与 = 写。how does mi and yu become xie? Mi is the cover radical and Yu means and; with; to; for; give, grant according to Pleco.
4
votes
1
answer
554
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What are characters called when they have three of the same radical used?
I sometimes encounter characters like 鑫, which is made of three 金 radicals, or 龘, which is made of three 龍 radicals. What are they called and is there a reason for their existence? Ive tried looking ...
user31212
0
votes
1
answer
853
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What is the procedure for typing cangjie here?
I've been typing Mandarin with pinyin input for years and have never found it terribly difficult to learn. However, I am finding that when I need to use website and type Cantonese expressions, I find ...
user31212
4
votes
4
answers
265
views
Different first stroke forms of 月 (yuè)
There seem to be two different forms of the first stroke in 月 (yuè). When the character stands alone by itself ("moon"), then the stroke seems to bend to the left after going straight down, ...
- 137
-1
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1
answer
198
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Identify this radical or character
Thank you in advance or your help. I am working on a small word puzzle in which the puzzle's creator uses some Mandarin characters. There is one that I have not been able to identify. It might be a ...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
445
views
Besides the radical, what meaning does the rest of a Chinese character have (especially when it was originally created)?
I am a beginning student of Mandarin Chinese. There is a key thing about Chinese characters that I am trying to understand. Besides the radical, what purpose does the rest of a character have? Was it ...
1
vote
2
answers
121
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When 马 is used as the left component (e.g. in 骑), does the 一 héng stroke change to ㇀ tí?
I am thinking about the 马 character. I know that when you use 土 and 车 on the left in a composed character (like 地，场... and 较，辆 ...) the 3rd stroke in 土， and the 4th in 车 change from 一 héng to ㇀ tí.
...
- 620
4
votes
1
answer
681
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For the character"冒"，is the top part "日" or "曰"？
For the character"冒"，is the top part "日" or "曰"？
In general, are both "日" and "曰" used as a radical at the top of some characters? How to distinguish them?
- 2,017
5
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4
answers
2k
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Chinese character decomposition
I found that many (most?) Chinese characters look like they're composed of more primitive ones, like:
做 ＝ 亻十口夂
你 ＝ 亻尔
吃 ＝ 卩乙
and so on.
I this a real phenomenon or just my European imagination?
If it ...
- 389
6
votes
1
answer
3k
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Why are the lists of Kangxi radicals different everywhere?
I'm trying to find an "official" list of Kangxi radicals that I can rely on and currently, I use two different Chinese apps to look for characters. Today I have realized that the lists for Kangxi ...
- 63
1
vote
2
answers
173
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To what degree is 戈 used in common Mandarin?
I understand that the phonetic part of 我 (wo3) is pronounced 戈 (ge1). It seems also that it means (or used to mean) "Dagger"/"Sword", however the only references I can find to this character says that ...
- 203
2
votes
1
answer
145
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Why is 伴 used for buddy?
Is it true that 伴 comes from the word, 半(half) and thus can be interpreted as (significant other person)?
- 923
2
votes
4
answers
871
views
Can I always write the 艹 (grass radical) with three lines only?
The 艹 (grass radical) is present in for example 歡 and 貓 and 喵
In some fonts it's rendered as two separate crosses 十十， in some as one horizontal line with two vertical lines crossing it.
Can I always ...
- 879
2
votes
2
answers
690
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Why does 写 not have a dot on top?
Many hanzi have a roof on top, including a dot. From the HSK2 list, we have:
客 家 字 完 室 安 它
The commonly used hanzi 写 is unlike these because it does not have a dot on top.
Chinese-tools.com ...
- 17.1k
1
vote
5
answers
863
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What are the radicals that make up 地?
What are the radicals that make up the character "地"?
Just from looking at it, it looks like "土" and "也" but "也" is a word not a radical.
MDBG also has this break down, and in turn breaks "也" down ...
- 135
3
votes
3
answers
579
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Radicals vs glyph origins (specifically for character 肚 in 肚子)
I am trying to learn some vocabulary and am looking at the radicals to help me remember.
The problem is, the radicals in some characters don't seem to make sense to me at all. In 肚, the two radicals ...
- 235
3
votes
2
answers
418
views
Same radical/character with different pronunciation
I'm currently learning the 214 radicals and also the words for HSK1. I have noticed a few times that some characters in the radical list have a different pronunciation to the characters in the HSK1 ...
- 185
2
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2
answers
197
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Significance of 門 in traditional chinese
I have seen 門 used as a 'radical' for many traditional chinese characters in Hong Kong. Is there a historical reason? I thought 門 means gate but what does gate have anything to do with 'happy', 開心 ?
- 923
3
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2
answers
160
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Character-component "spelling" software
I was just reading about China's problem with rare given names and the absence of them in computer databases? For example, there was an individual with the given name pronounced "cheng" composed of 马 ...
- 428
1
vote
2
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550
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Radical names and stroke names
Sometimes a character component has one pronunciation as a Kangxi radical, another one as a stroke, and perhaps even more:
一: yī / héng
丨: gǔn / shù
丶: zhǔ / diǎn
亅: jué / shùgōu
乙: yǐ / ...
- 1,660
1
vote
5
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623
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What do the character components in 旅 and 派 represent?
Memorizing characters is tough. For me, these two were hard (旅 and 派), until today when I noticed that the bottom right part looks just like the character 刃 (the edge of a knife) written backwards. ...
- 777
1
vote
1
answer
505
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Do all 汉字 components (radicals and non-radicals) have names?
I would like to know, so all radicals and non-radicals that make up Chinese character have names?
If so, then where can I find a radical and non-radical Chinese character component dictionary?
I was ...
- 777
11
votes
3
answers
702
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Should 屋 and 居 use radical 户 instead of 尸?
户 means home. So these examples are not suprising: 房 fáng (house), 扁 biǎn (flat), 扇 shàn (fan [mostly used indoor]), 扉 fēi (door)
尸 means corpse, and it looks like it refers to tail or something ...
- 111
5
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4
answers
3k
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Why do some Chinese characters for animals not use the radical 犭?
why some Chinese words don't use the rule of prefix?
- 530
2
votes
3
answers
156
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Why is the character 中 listed as a 嵌套结构 (nested structure) and not a 单一结构 (single component)?
I'm studying character components using guoxuedashi, a online service/dictionary where you can filter by components, and there's LOTS of them. The thing is, they use a different system of ...
- 125
3
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3
answers
685
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Radical meaning vs characters in use
The radical 阜 and its other form 阝, used on the left, supposedly means mound or dam. Looking at image web search hits for 阜 or 阝, I get nothing related to dam or mound.
When I look up the Chinese ...
- 53
13
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5
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3k
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Confusion about the ice radical 冫
As far as I know, the character for "ice" is 冰, and the radical derived from it is 冫 . I find it a bit weird that the ice radical 冫 is the radical for the ice character 冰 itself (ice + water = ice ...
- 439
13
votes
1
answer
563
views
How to differentiate "radical plus 0 strokes" characters?
There are (at least) six characters that consist of radical 102 plus 0 strokes: 田 由 甲 申 甴 电
In each of the variants the middle vertical stroke is made shorter, longer or twisted at the end.
Is there ...
- 453
11
votes
4
answers
666
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Why does 首饰的饰 have the 饣radical?
According to my sources 饣 means "food" or "eat". Since when do people eat jewelry?
- 1,170
5
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3
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583
views
What is the top part of 姜 and why does it differ?
If you look at the character 姜, it seems like the top part is ⺷ and the bottom is 女, however some sources, Chinese-Characters, HanziJS and Wikimedia Commons show the phonetic radical as 羊.
I'm the ...
- 171
23
votes
8
answers
26k
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Is there a site that can split characters into radicals?
For example, let's examine the character 天 (heaven). It has a 人 radical (men). And then we add a strip to become 大 (big). And then we add another strip to get 天 (heaven).
Now, is there a site to do ...
- 525
8
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2
answers
310
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What is the part without the radical called?
For example, these characters have different radicals:
根 跟 恨 狠
But the part of the characters minus the radical is the same.
Does that part (艮 in this case) have a name?
- 1,841
28
votes
5
answers
9k
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How can one determine the radical for a given character?
Many times, when reading Mandarin, I will happen across a character that I don't know. Usually, the radical along with some context will clue me into the meaning, but if I can't determine the radical, ...
- 509