Chinese Radical Lookup
Browse and search Chinese radicals (部首). See example characters for each radical. Sort by stroke count or pinyin. A visual guide to the building blocks of Chinese characters.
Showing 24 of 24 common radicals
Explore Chinese Radicals
Click any radical to see characters that contain it. Search by radical, pinyin, meaning, or even by a character to find which radical it belongs to. Understanding radicals unlocks the logic behind thousands of Chinese characters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Chinese radicals? ▼
Radicals (部首, bùshǒu) are the building blocks of Chinese characters. Most characters contain a radical that gives a hint about the character's meaning. For example, characters with the water radical (氵) often relate to water or liquids.
How many radicals are there? ▼
The traditional Kangxi Dictionary lists 214 radicals. However, only about 50-80 radicals appear frequently in everyday characters. Our tool covers the most common ones you will encounter.
How do radicals help with learning? ▼
Knowing radicals helps you guess the meaning of unfamiliar characters, look up characters in dictionaries, and memorize new characters by connecting them to familiar components.
🔧 Related Tools
📖 Learn More
🗾 Learning Japanese too? Check out our Japanese tools →