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Chinese character radicals
A radical (Chinese: 部首; pinyin: bùshǒu; lit. 'section header'), or indexing component, is a visually prominent component of a Chinese character under which the character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary. The radical for a character is typically a semantic component, but it can also be another structural component or an artificially extracted portion of the character. In some cases, the original semantic or phonological connection has become obscure, owing to changes in the meaning or pronunciation of the character over time.
The use of the English term radical is based on an analogy between the structure of Chinese characters and the inflection of words in European languages. Radicals are also sometimes called classifiers, but this name is more commonly applied to the grammatical measure words in Chinese.
In the earliest Chinese dictionaries, such as the Erya (3rd century BC), characters were grouped together in broad semantic categories. Because the vast majority of characters are phono-semantic compounds, combining a semantic component with a phonetic component, each semantic component tended to recur within a particular section of the dictionary. In the 2nd century AD, the Han dynasty scholar Xu Shen organized his etymological dictionary Shuowen Jiezi by selecting 540 recurring graphic elements he called bù (部; "categories"). Most were common semantic components, but they also included shared graphic elements such as a dot or horizontal stroke. Some were even artificially extracted groups of strokes, termed "glyphs" by Serruys, which never had an independent existence other than being listed in Shuowen. Each character was listed under only one element, which is then referred to as the radical for that character. For example, characters containing 女; nǚ; "female" or 木; mù; "tree, wood" are often grouped together in the sections for those radicals.
Mei Yingzuo's 1615 dictionary Zihui made two further innovations. He reduced the list of radicals to 214 and arranged characters under each radical in increasing order of the number of additional strokes—the radical-and-stroke method still used in the vast majority of present-day Chinese dictionaries. These innovations were also adopted by the more famous Kangxi Dictionary of 1716. Thus the standard 214 radicals introduced in the Zihui are usually known as the Kangxi radicals. These were first called bùshǒu (部首; "section header") in the Kangxi Dictionary. Although there is some variation in such lists – depending primarily on what secondary radicals are also indexed – these canonical 214 radicals of the Kangxi Dictionary still serve as the basis for most modern Chinese dictionaries. Some of the graphically similar radicals are combined in many dictionaries, such as 月; yuè; "moon" and the 月 form (⺼) of 肉; ròu; "meat, flesh".
After the writing system reform in mainland China, the traditional set of Kangxi radicals became unsuitable for indexing Simplified Chinese characters. In 1983, the Committee for Reforming the Chinese Written Language and the State Administration of Publication of China published The Table of Unified Indexing Chinese Character Components (Draft) (汉字统一部首表（草案). In 2009, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and the State Language Work Committee issued The Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components (GF 0011-2009 汉字部首表), which includes 201 principal indexing components and 100 associated indexing components (In China's normative documents, "radical" is defined as any component or 偏旁; piānpáng of Chinese characters, while 部首 is translated as "indexing component".).
Radicals may appear in any position in a character. For example, 女 appears on the left side in the characters 姐, 媽, 她, 好 and 姓, but it appears at the bottom in 妾. Semantic components tend to appear on the top or on the left side of the character, and phonetic components on the right side or at the bottom. These are loose rules, however, and exceptions are plenty. Sometimes, the radical may span more than one side, as in 園 = 囗; "enclosure" + 袁, or 街 = 行; "go, movement" + 圭. More complicated combinations exist, such as 勝 = 力; "strength" + 朕—the radical is in the lower-right quadrant.
In many characters, the components (including radicals) are distorted or modified to fit into a block with other elements. They may be narrowed, shortened, or have different shapes entirely. Changes in shape, rather than simple distortion, may result in fewer pen strokes. In some cases, combinations may have alternates. The shape of the component can depend on its placement with other elements in the character.
The shape 阝 is indexed as two different radicals depending on where it appears in the character. Placed on the right, as in 都; dū; "metropolis" (also read as dōu; "all"), it represents an abbreviated form of 邑; yì; "city"; placed on the left, as in 陸; lù; "land", it represents an abbreviated radical form of 阜; fù; "mound, hill".
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Chinese character radicals
A radical (Chinese: 部首; pinyin: bùshǒu; lit. 'section header'), or indexing component, is a visually prominent component of a Chinese character under which the character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary. The radical for a character is typically a semantic component, but it can also be another structural component or an artificially extracted portion of the character. In some cases, the original semantic or phonological connection has become obscure, owing to changes in the meaning or pronunciation of the character over time.
The use of the English term radical is based on an analogy between the structure of Chinese characters and the inflection of words in European languages. Radicals are also sometimes called classifiers, but this name is more commonly applied to the grammatical measure words in Chinese.
In the earliest Chinese dictionaries, such as the Erya (3rd century BC), characters were grouped together in broad semantic categories. Because the vast majority of characters are phono-semantic compounds, combining a semantic component with a phonetic component, each semantic component tended to recur within a particular section of the dictionary. In the 2nd century AD, the Han dynasty scholar Xu Shen organized his etymological dictionary Shuowen Jiezi by selecting 540 recurring graphic elements he called bù (部; "categories"). Most were common semantic components, but they also included shared graphic elements such as a dot or horizontal stroke. Some were even artificially extracted groups of strokes, termed "glyphs" by Serruys, which never had an independent existence other than being listed in Shuowen. Each character was listed under only one element, which is then referred to as the radical for that character. For example, characters containing 女; nǚ; "female" or 木; mù; "tree, wood" are often grouped together in the sections for those radicals.
Mei Yingzuo's 1615 dictionary Zihui made two further innovations. He reduced the list of radicals to 214 and arranged characters under each radical in increasing order of the number of additional strokes—the radical-and-stroke method still used in the vast majority of present-day Chinese dictionaries. These innovations were also adopted by the more famous Kangxi Dictionary of 1716. Thus the standard 214 radicals introduced in the Zihui are usually known as the Kangxi radicals. These were first called bùshǒu (部首; "section header") in the Kangxi Dictionary. Although there is some variation in such lists – depending primarily on what secondary radicals are also indexed – these canonical 214 radicals of the Kangxi Dictionary still serve as the basis for most modern Chinese dictionaries. Some of the graphically similar radicals are combined in many dictionaries, such as 月; yuè; "moon" and the 月 form (⺼) of 肉; ròu; "meat, flesh".
After the writing system reform in mainland China, the traditional set of Kangxi radicals became unsuitable for indexing Simplified Chinese characters. In 1983, the Committee for Reforming the Chinese Written Language and the State Administration of Publication of China published The Table of Unified Indexing Chinese Character Components (Draft) (汉字统一部首表（草案). In 2009, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and the State Language Work Committee issued The Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components (GF 0011-2009 汉字部首表), which includes 201 principal indexing components and 100 associated indexing components (In China's normative documents, "radical" is defined as any component or 偏旁; piānpáng of Chinese characters, while 部首 is translated as "indexing component".).
Radicals may appear in any position in a character. For example, 女 appears on the left side in the characters 姐, 媽, 她, 好 and 姓, but it appears at the bottom in 妾. Semantic components tend to appear on the top or on the left side of the character, and phonetic components on the right side or at the bottom. These are loose rules, however, and exceptions are plenty. Sometimes, the radical may span more than one side, as in 園 = 囗; "enclosure" + 袁, or 街 = 行; "go, movement" + 圭. More complicated combinations exist, such as 勝 = 力; "strength" + 朕—the radical is in the lower-right quadrant.
In many characters, the components (including radicals) are distorted or modified to fit into a block with other elements. They may be narrowed, shortened, or have different shapes entirely. Changes in shape, rather than simple distortion, may result in fewer pen strokes. In some cases, combinations may have alternates. The shape of the component can depend on its placement with other elements in the character.
The shape 阝 is indexed as two different radicals depending on where it appears in the character. Placed on the right, as in 都; dū; "metropolis" (also read as dōu; "all"), it represents an abbreviated form of 邑; yì; "city"; placed on the left, as in 陸; lù; "land", it represents an abbreviated radical form of 阜; fù; "mound, hill".