Radical (Chinese character)

A radical (from Latin radix, meaning "root") is a basic identifiable component of every Chinese character. (This includes not only Chinese Hanzi, but also the Japanese Kanji, Korean Hanja and Vietnamese Chữ nôm and Chữ nho.) In languages that use Chinese characters, a radical is called 部首 (Pinyin: bùshǒu; Japanese bushu and Korean busu), literally meaning "section header". Radicals are important to the organisation and use of Chinese dictionaries, Japanese Kanji dictionaries, and Korean Hanja dictionaries.

Related Topics:
Latin - Chinese character - Chinese - Hanzi - Japan - Kanji - Korea - Hanja - Vietnamese - Chữ nôm - Chữ nho - Pinyin

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Despite initial appearances, Chinese characters are not unstructured glyphs. They are composed of some number of distinct, simpler elements composed of one or more lines (generally called strokes when referring to Chinese writing). It would be hard to imagine maintaining a system as long lasting as Chinese writing without some internal structure because it would be nearly impossible to memorize so many characters if each were constructed completely arbitrarily. Instead, Chinese characters are in practice built out of specific components called radicals.

Related Topics:
Chinese character - Glyph - Stroke - Chinese writing

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