Free teaching tool
Radical table
The 214 building blocks of Chinese characters, grouped by stroke count.
1-stroke radicals6
Using it
- Stroke count
- Radicals are ordered by how many strokes they take. This picks the group.
- Show
- Swap between example characters and the radical’s own meaning.
Every Chinese character is assembled from a small set of parts, and these are the 214 the dictionaries are organised by. Choose a stroke count and the radicals with that many strokes appear, each with its meaning and characters that use it. It is the fastest way to show a class why 河, 海 and 湖 are all about water.
What the radicals are forOther tools
- Stroke orderWatch any character being written, one stroke at a time.
- Tone cardsThe four tones of one syllable, side by side, each with a word you can hear.
- Write itA 田字格 grid to write a character in, with the model behind it.
- Say itRecord a phrase and see the shape of your pitch against the model.
- MatchPair characters with their pinyin. Type your own list.