Chinese Radicals
How Many Radicals Are in Chinese?
The traditional Kangxi radical system contains 214 radicals — the building blocks used to classify and look up Chinese characters in dictionaries. HanziFeed indexes 205 radicals that appear across the 3,282 characters in the HSK 3.0 curriculum (CLEC 2022 syllabus).
Each Chinese character is assigned exactly one radical, which typically signals the character's meaning category. Characters with the water radical (氵) often relate to liquids, characters with the hand radical (扌) involve manual actions, and characters with the heart radical (忄) express emotions or mental states. Recognizing radicals accelerates character learning by turning thousands of unique characters into combinations of familiar parts.
Radical Statistics
205
Total Radicals
3,282
Characters Covered
16
Avg. per Radical
1–14
Stroke Range
The most productive radical is 氵 water with 192 characters. Looking for character parts beyond radicals? Browse by component to explore phonetic and structural patterns.
All Chinese Radicals by Stroke Count
1 Stroke (6 radicals)
2 Strokes (25 radicals)
亻讠阝刂力冫十儿八厂又亠二卩冖几凵卜冂勹匕匸厶入匚
person
rén · 133 chars
speech
yán · 82 chars
mound
fù · 52 chars
knife
dāo · 41 chars
power
lì · 23 chars
ice
bīng · 18 chars
ten
shí · 16 chars
legs
ér · 15 chars
eight
bā · 15 chars
cliff
hǎn · 15 chars
again
yòu · 14 chars
lid
tóu · 10 chars
two
èr · 9 chars
seal
jié · 9 chars
cover
mì · 7 chars
table
jī · 7 chars
open mouth
kǎn · 7 chars
divination
bǔ · 7 chars
wide
jiōng · 6 chars
wrap
bāo · 6 chars
spoon
bǐ · 3 chars
hiding
xì · 3 chars
private
sī · 3 chars
enter
rù · 2 chars
box
fāng · 2 chars
3 Strokes (42 radicals)
氵扌口忄艹纟辶土女宀山巾广犭大尸饣彳马门囗子弓寸小工廾彡士夕干尢己幺巛廴彐夂夊屮弋飞
water
shuǐ · 192 chars
hand
shǒu · 190 chars
mouth
kǒu · 154 chars
heart
xīn · 110 chars
grass
cǎo · 105 chars
silk
sī · 79 chars
walk
chuò · 67 chars
earth
tǔ · 65 chars
woman
nǚ · 55 chars
roof
mián · 48 chars
mountain
shān · 27 chars
cloth
jīn · 26 chars
shelter
guǎng · 26 chars
dog
quǎn · 26 chars
big
dà · 25 chars
corpse
shī · 22 chars
eat
shí · 22 chars
step
chì · 20 chars
horse
mǎ · 19 chars
gate
mén · 18 chars
enclosure
wéi · 15 chars
child
zǐ · 15 chars
bow
gōng · 14 chars
inch
cùn · 10 chars
small
xiǎo · 7 chars
work
gōng · 7 chars
hands joined
gǒng · 6 chars
bristle
shān · 6 chars
scholar
shì · 5 chars
evening
xī · 5 chars
dry
gān · 5 chars
lame
wāng · 4 chars
self
jǐ · 4 chars
tiny
yāo · 4 chars
river
chuān · 3 chars
stride
yǐn · 3 chars
snout
jì · 3 chars
go
zhǐ · 2 chars
go slowly
suī · 2 chars
sprout
chè · 1 chars
shoot
yì · 1 chars
fly
fēi · 1 chars
4 Strokes (40 radicals)
木灬日火贝王月衤车攵礻心戈欠牛方止歹斤殳气户斗曰见比父韦文毋毛氏爪片风无支爻牙长
tree
mù · 127 chars
fire
huǒ · 64 chars
sun
rì · 56 chars
fire
huǒ · 53 chars
shell
bèi · 45 chars
jade
yù · 30 chars
moon
yuè · 28 chars
clothing
yī · 28 chars
cart
chē · 25 chars
rap
pū · 21 chars
spirit
shì · 19 chars
heart
xīn · 14 chars
halberd
gē · 11 chars
yawn
qiàn · 11 chars
cow
niú · 10 chars
square
fāng · 7 chars
stop
zhǐ · 7 chars
death
dǎi · 7 chars
axe
jīn · 6 chars
weapon
shū · 6 chars
steam
qì · 6 chars
door
hù · 5 chars
dipper
dǒu · 5 chars
say
yuē · 5 chars
see
jiàn · 5 chars
compare
bǐ · 4 chars
father
fù · 4 chars
soft leather
wéi · 4 chars
script
wén · 3 chars
do not
wú · 3 chars
fur
máo · 3 chars
clan
shì · 3 chars
claw
zhǎo · 3 chars
slice
piàn · 3 chars
wind
fēng · 3 chars
not
wú · 2 chars
branch
zhī · 1 chars
lines
yáo · 1 chars
fang
yá · 1 chars
long
cháng · 1 chars
5 Strokes (25 radicals)
钅目石禾疒田穴皿鸟罒立白矢瓦甘禸玄瓜生用疋皮癶矛龙
metal
jīn · 49 chars
eye
mù · 38 chars
stone
shí · 32 chars
grain
hé · 31 chars
illness
nè · 27 chars
field
tián · 20 chars
cave
xué · 20 chars
dish
mǐn · 12 chars
bird
niǎo · 11 chars
net
wǎng · 10 chars
stand
lì · 9 chars
white
bái · 6 chars
arrow
shǐ · 6 chars
tile
wǎ · 3 chars
sweet
gān · 3 chars
track
róu · 3 chars
dark
xuán · 2 chars
melon
guā · 2 chars
life
shēng · 2 chars
use
yòng · 2 chars
bolt of cloth
pǐ · 2 chars
skin
pí · 2 chars
footsteps
bō · 1 chars
spear
máo · 1 chars
dragon
lóng · 1 chars
6 Strokes (27 radicals)
肉竹虫页米耳羽舟虍羊行舌缶老而耒聿西自至臼艮色血臣舛齐
meat
ròu · 46 chars
bamboo
zhú · 34 chars
insect
chóng · 26 chars
page
yè · 25 chars
rice
mǐ · 22 chars
ear
ěr · 16 chars
feather
yǔ · 11 chars
boat
zhōu · 10 chars
tiger
hū · 6 chars
sheep
yáng · 5 chars
walk
xíng · 5 chars
tongue
shé · 4 chars
jar
fǒu · 3 chars
old
lǎo · 3 chars
and
ér · 3 chars
plow
lěi · 3 chars
brush
yù · 3 chars
west
xī · 3 chars
self
zì · 2 chars
arrive
zhì · 2 chars
mortar
jiù · 2 chars
stubborn
gèn · 2 chars
color
sè · 2 chars
blood
xuè · 2 chars
minister
chén · 1 chars
oppose
chuǎn · 1 chars
even
qí · 1 chars
7 Strokes (16 radicals)
足酉走辛身豕里角谷豸赤辰釆麦豆龟
foot
zú · 29 chars
wine
yǒu · 18 chars
walk
zǒu · 11 chars
bitter
xīn · 8 chars
body
shēn · 5 chars
pig
shǐ · 4 chars
village
lǐ · 4 chars
horn
jiǎo · 3 chars
valley
gǔ · 2 chars
cat
zhì · 2 chars
red
chì · 2 chars
morning
chén · 2 chars
distinguish
biàn · 2 chars
wheat
mài · 2 chars
bean
dòu · 1 chars
turtle
guī · 1 chars
8 Strokes (7 radicals)
9 Strokes (6 radicals)
10 Strokes (3 radicals)
11 Strokes (1 radical)
12 Strokes (4 radicals)
13 Strokes (2 radicals)
14 Strokes (1 radical)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many radicals are in Chinese?
The traditional Kangxi radical system contains 214 radicals, established in the 1716 Kangxi Dictionary. HanziFeed indexes 205 radicals that appear across the 3,282 characters in the HSK 3.0 character set (CLEC 2022 syllabus). Not all 214 Kangxi radicals appear in the modern HSK curriculum — some classify rare or archaic characters not included in HSK levels 1–9.
What is a radical in Chinese?
A radical (部首, bùshǒu) is the semantic component of a Chinese character used to classify it in dictionaries. Each character is assigned exactly one radical, which typically hints at the character's meaning category. For example, characters with the water radical (氵) often relate to liquids or flowing, while characters with the hand radical (扌) involve actions performed by hand. Radicals range from 1 to 14 strokes in complexity.
What are the most common Chinese radicals?
By number of characters in the HSK 3.0 set, the most common radicals are: 氵 water (192 characters), 扌 hand (190 characters), 口 mouth (154 characters), 亻 person (133 characters), 木 tree (127 characters). Learning these high-frequency radicals first gives you structural clues for hundreds of characters. Recognizing a character's radical helps you guess its meaning category even before looking it up.
What is the difference between a radical and a component?
A radical is the single component officially assigned to classify a character in dictionaries — every character has exactly one radical. A component is any recurring building block within a character, including radicals, phonetic elements, and structural pieces. For example, the character 清 has the water radical (氵) for dictionary classification, but also contains the component 青 (qīng), which contributes its pronunciation. Radicals are a subset of components — all radicals are components, but not all components are radicals.
How are Chinese radicals organized?
Chinese radicals are traditionally organized by stroke count, from simplest (1 stroke) to most complex (14 strokes). This system was formalized in the Kangxi Dictionary (1716) and remains the standard for Chinese dictionaries today. On this page, radicals are grouped by stroke count following this traditional ordering. Within each group, radicals are sorted by how many HSK characters they classify — so the most useful radicals at each stroke count appear first.
What is the Kangxi radical system?
The Kangxi radical system is the standard set of 214 radicals used to organize Chinese characters in dictionaries. It was codified in the Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典), compiled between 1710 and 1716 under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Despite being over 300 years old, this system remains the foundation for character classification in modern dictionaries and digital character lookup tools. HanziFeed uses the Kangxi radical system to classify all 3,282 characters in the HSK 3.0 curriculum.
Sources & Standards
Radical classifications on this page follow the Kangxi radical system (康熙部首), the standard set of 214 radicals codified in the Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典, 1716). Character counts reflect the 3,282 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.