shǒu

technical
common

Meaning of 部首

部首 means radical; section header; indexing category. Pronounced bù shǒu.

  • radical; section header; indexing category

Definitions & Examples

 
 
de
shǒu
shì
 
shuǐ
 
 

The radical for the character '河' is '水' (water).

Chá
diǎn
shí
 
yào
xiān
què
dìng
de
shǒu
 

When looking up a character in a dictionary, you first need to identify its radical.

duō
Hàn
 
 
wéi
shǒu
 
 
lín
 
 
 
sēn
 
 
 
bǎn
 
 

Many Chinese characters use '木' (wood) as their radical, such as '林', '森', and '板'.

 
Kāng
Diǎn
 
cǎi
yòng
le
2142
1
4
shǒu
de
tǒng
 
 
 

The 'Kangxi Dictionary' uses a system of 214 radicals.

àn
shǒu
huà
zhǎo
dào
le
shēng
 

He found the unfamiliar character by looking under its radical and stroke count.

Relations

Measure Words

/
Primary
/ lèi
/ tào