Chinese Radicals — All 214 Kangxi Radicals

Chinese radicals (部首, bùshǒu) are the semantic building blocks used to organize characters in dictionaries. Most characters contain a radical that hints at the meaning, plus a phonetic component that hints at pronunciation. For example, 妈 (mā, mother) uses 女 (woman) as its radical.

The traditional Kangxi system defines 214 radicals, established in 1716. Modern simplified dictionaries sometimes use 186 or 201, but 214 remains the international standard for looking up characters.

Not all at once. The most frequent 100 radicals appear in the vast majority of common characters. Focusing on the top 50–100 gives the best return on study time. The full 214 are useful for advanced dictionary look-up and character analysis.

Radicals give you a mental framework for characters. When you see an unfamiliar character containing 水 (water), you know the meaning is probably related to liquids or water — which helps you make an educated guess and remember it faster. They also help you distinguish visually similar characters.

The concept is the same, but some radicals look different in simplified vs traditional. For example, 言 (speech) appears as 讠in simplified Chinese. The Kangxi system uses traditional forms, but most dictionaries note both variants.