男

Male Component (男)

nán · 7 strokes

The male component (男) is a less common component in Chinese characters. In Chinese, components serve different roles: semantic elements contribute meaning, phonetic elements suggest pronunciation, and structural elements provide the character's framework. It primarily serves as a semantic element, contributing meaning related to male and associated concepts to the characters where it appears. It typically appears on the bottom of a character. 2 characters: 2 in HSK 6. Components are identified through character decomposition analysis.

Male Component at a Glance

Stroke Count7
Total Characters2
Primary RoleSemantic (meaning)
Typical Positionbottom
Most Common HSK LevelHSK 6 (2 characters)
Avg. Character Strokes13
Also a Kangxi Radical?No

All Male Component Characters

HSK 6 (2 characters)

舅jiùmaternal uncle甥shēng(bound form) sister's son

Frequently Asked Questions

What characters contain the male component (男)?
There are 2 characters containing the male component (男) in the HSK 3.0 character set (CLEC 2022 syllabus): 2 in HSK 6. The most frequently used include 舅 (jiù, "maternal uncle"), 甥 (shēng, "(bound form) sister's son"). Components are identified through character decomposition analysis.
Is 男 a radical or a component?
男 is a component but not one of the 214 Kangxi radicals. Kangxi radicals are the traditional set used to classify and look up characters in dictionaries. Components are the broader set of building blocks that make up all Chinese characters — including radicals, phonetic elements, and structural pieces. While 男 is not used as a dictionary classifier, it plays an important role as a semantic element in the 2 characters where it appears.
Where does 男 appear in a character?
The male component (男) most commonly appears on the bottom of a character. Full position breakdown: bottom (1 characters), right side (1 characters). Knowing where a component typically sits helps with character recognition — when you see 男 in its usual position, you can quickly identify it and infer the character's meaning or pronunciation.

Sources & Standards

Components are identified through structural decomposition analysis of characters in the HSK 3.0 Standard (《国际中文教育中文水平等级标准》), published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC), Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, 2022 revision. Radical classifications follow the Kangxi radical system (康熙部首).