Appendix C: Common Radicals

As complicated as they may be, learning the Chinese radicals is without doubt, very helpful! They often indicate what a character means.

Radicals are a bit similar to root words or affixes (prefixes and suffixes) in English, where understanding the root, prefix, or suffix can help you understand the word itself.

The root word of dictionary is dict (Latin), which means “say”. The Chinese radical for “speech” is 讠(言, yán). “Dictionary” in Chinese is 词典 (cídiǎn), where the radical of 词 is 讠.

The prefix of repeat is re-, which means “again”. The Chinese radical for “again” is 又 (yòu). 反复 (fǎnfù) means “repeatedly”, where the radical of 反 is 又.

Of course, English root words and affixes don’t always translate perfectly into Chinese radicals. Nonetheless, knowing these radicals can be incredibly helpful in deciphering what a character means.

For example, the radical 氵 means water (水, shuǐ), and the character 河 (hé) means river.

Radical in Chinese is 部首 (bùshǒu). Another way of saying radical in Chinese is 偏旁 (piānpáng).