radical; indexing system for Chinese characters
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Meanings
1 sense · 5 examplesnoun
radical; section header; indexing category
formalA system for organizing Chinese characters in dictionaries based on a common graphical component (e.g., 水 (water) radical, 口 (mouth) radical). Essential for looking up characters.
“
Hé河
”
zì字
de的
bù部
shǒu首
shì是
“
shuǐ水
”
。
The radical for the character '河' is '水' (water).
Chá查
zì字
diǎn典
shí时
，
xū需
yào要
xiān先
què确
dìng定
zì字
de的
bù部
shǒu首
。
When looking up a character in a dictionary, you first need to identify its radical.
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Xǔ许
duō多
Hàn汉
zì字
yǐ以
“
mù木
”
wéi为
bù部
shǒu首
，
bǐ比
rú如
“
lín林
”
、
“
sēn森
”
、
“
bǎn板
”
。
Many Chinese characters use '木' (wood) as their radical, such as '林', '森', and '板'.
“
Kāng康
Xī熙
Zì字
Diǎn典
”
cǎi采
yòng用
le了
2142
gè1
bù4
shǒu个
de部
xì首
tǒng的
系
统
。
The 'Kangxi Dictionary' uses a system of 214 radicals.
Tā他
àn按
bù部
shǒu首
bǐ笔
huà画
zhǎo找
dào到
le了
nà那
gè个
shēng生
zì字
。
He found the unfamiliar character by looking under its radical and stroke count.