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Chinese Radicals: the Building Blocks of Hanzi
Almost every Chinese character is assembled from a small set of recurring components called radicals. Learn the common ones and new characters stop looking like random strokes — 好 becomes "woman 女 + child 子", 明 becomes "sun 日 + moon 月". These are the 45 radicals Hanzi Garden teaches first, each with a mnemonic.
| Radical | Meaning | Mnemonic | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | one, ground | A single stroke — the ground beneath everything. | 1 |
| 人 | person | A person mid-stride, two legs walking. | 1 |
| 口 | mouth | A wide-open mouth, square from shouting. | 1 |
| 日 | sun, day | The sun in a window frame — one bright bar across the middle. | 1 |
| 十 | ten, cross | A cross marks the spot: ten out of ten. | 1 |
| 女 | woman | A dancer mid-twirl — the woman radical. | 1 |
| 子 | child | A swaddled baby with arms sticking out. | 1 |
| 大 | big | A person 人 stretching both arms wide: it was THIS big! | 1 |
| 木 | tree, wood | A trunk with branches up and roots down. | 1 |
| 水 | water | A stream splashing off both banks. | 1 |
| 火 | fire | Flames leap up around a dancing figure — fire! | 2 |
| 月 | moon, month | A crescent moon hanging in the window, two clouds drifting across it. | 2 |
| 山 | mountain | Three rocky peaks standing side by side — a mountain range. | 2 |
| 土 | earth, soil | A little sprout pushing up through a flat patch of soil. | 2 |
| 王 | king | Heaven, humanity, and earth — three lines joined by the one who rules them all. | 2 |
| 手 | hand | An open palm with fingers spread wide, waving hello. | 2 |
| 目 | eye | An eye turned on its side, wide open and watching you. | 2 |
| 亻 | person (side) | A person leaning against the left side of a character, arms tucked in. | 3 |
| 讠 | speech (side) | A tiny mouth with a sound wave rising from it — words being spoken. | 3 |
| 也 | also, wriggle | A little snake wriggling along — it also wants to come. | 3 |
| 门 | door, gate | A double door frame with one flap swinging open. | 3 |
| 白 | white | The sun 日 with a single ray on top — blazing white light. | 3 |
| 勺 | ladle, spoon | A ladle with one drop of soup still inside. | 3 |
| 戈 | halberd, spear | A long spear with a hook and a tassel, ready for battle. | 3 |
| 辶 | walk, movement | A winding road with a footprint on it — something is on the move. | 4 |
| 文 | writing, culture | A scholar in a wide hat, arms crossed, covered in written characters. | 4 |
| 阝 | city, mound | An ear pressed against the side of a character, listening to the city. | 4 |
| 厶 | private | A secret folded up into a tiny triangle — private, keep out. | 4 |
| 隹 | short-tailed bird | A plump little bird with a stubby tail, feathers in neat rows. | 4 |
| 宀 | roof | A roof with a chimney on top, sheltering whatever lives beneath. | 4 |
| 又 | again, right hand | A hand reaching out to grab something — again and again. | 4 |
| 马 | horse | A horse mid-gallop, mane flying, all four legs folded into one stroke. | 5 |
| 父 | father | Two crossed axes over a shoulder — father heading out to work. | 5 |
| 巴 | tail, cling | A snake with a curly tail, clinging tightly to whatever it wraps. | 5 |
| 夕 | evening | A sliver of moon just after sunset — evening has arrived. | 5 |
| 乞 | beg | A hungry figure bent over with an open hand — please, just a bite. | 5 |
| 饣 | food (side) | A little lidded pot of food squeezed onto the left side of a character. | 5 |
| 儿 | legs, child | Two small legs running around — a child underfoot. | 5 |
| 乙 | hook, second | A single bent hook of a stroke — second place, hanging on. | 6 |
| 米 | rice | Grains of rice scattering in all four directions from one stalk. | 6 |
| 心 | heart | A heart with three drops of feeling splashing out of it. | 6 |
| 青 | blue-green, young | Young sprouts over the moon — the fresh blue-green of spring. | 6 |
| 身 | body | A person in profile with a proud round belly — the whole body. | 6 |
| 寸 | inch, thumb | A hand with a dot at the wrist — one thumb-width, one inch. | 6 |
| 钅 | metal (side), gold | A stack of coins squeezed onto the left side — the glint of metal and money. | 6 |
In the app, radicals unlock the characters built from them, which unlock vocabulary — the same progression WaniKani made famous, for Mandarin.
Learn radicals free with SRS →