See a radical — pick its meaning · 60 radicals · Example characters shown · 15 questions per round
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Chinese radicals? ▼
Chinese radicals (部首, bùshǒu) are the building-block components of Chinese characters. Every character in the dictionary is organized by its radical. Learning radicals helps you guess the meaning of unknown characters and look them up in dictionaries.
How many radicals are there in Chinese? ▼
The traditional Kangxi dictionary uses 214 radicals. Modern dictionaries simplify this to around 186-201. This quiz focuses on the 60 most common radicals, which appear in the majority of everyday characters.
How does this radical quiz work? ▼
You see a large radical character, plus example characters that use it. Then you pick the correct meaning from 4 options. Each round is 15 questions drawn randomly from the 60-radical pool.
Why should I learn radicals? ▼
Knowing radicals lets you decode unfamiliar characters by breaking them into parts. For example, 河 (river) contains the water radical 水. Once you know the radical, you can often guess the semantic category of new words.
What is the difference between a radical and a component? ▼
A radical is the specific component used to classify a character in a dictionary. A component is any repeating part of a character. All radicals are components, but not all components are the dictionary radical for a given character.
How long does it take to learn all the radicals? ▼
With daily 5-minute practice, most learners recognize the 60 most common radicals within 2-3 weeks. Recognizing all 214 Kangxi radicals typically takes 2-3 months of regular practice.