Taking Kanji Apart: Radicals and Components

As any learner knows, kanji are an inescapable and daunting aspect of learning Japanese. There’s more than 2000 of the little devils and each one has multiple pronunciations, multiple meanings, and a predefined stroke order. That’s a lot to learn, so it’s understandable that most teachers and books avoid getting very deeply into the radical (部首ぶしゅ：ぶしゅ) system which in kanji dictionaries is used to order/classify them.

Indeed, learners will have no problem passing even the N1 level of the JLPT without knowing that 氵 is called さんずい or that 疒 is やまいだれ. However, in my personal experience communicating with native Japanese speakers as well as other Japanese learners, I’ve been thankful to know the names of some common radicals, and regretful that I couldn’t name more. Kanji radicals aren’t required for Japanese proficiency, but ignorance of them is a shortcoming nevertheless.

With that said, this article intends to explain the basics of kanji radicals (as well as their quirkiness), and also introduce to the reader a good beginning vocabulary on the subject.

Why radicals suck

If you’re an intermediate or advanced learner, you probably have a kanji dictionary of some kind. It probably organizes kanji by radicals, which are grouped by stroke count. And it probably has a section for kanji with no apparent radical. This is the most intuitive and effective way to get the job done.

Unfortunately, although the basic idea is the same, the real radical system used in Japan is far less intuitive than you might think. For one thing, there is no such thing as a kanji without a radical.

Even the lowly 一いち (いち) has a radical (or rather, is a radical), which by the way is used to classify these guys: 三さん七上下不丁世且丙丑. Oddly enough, although 一いち is the radical for 三さん, it is not the radical for 二に. 二に is a different radical altogether (classifying: 五互井亜云于). I think you can see how this gets out of hand rather quickly. That’s why your learner’s dictionary uses a simplified system.

In many cases it’s impossible to tell for certain what a kanji’s radical is just by looking at it. For example, most Japanese learners would start searching for 歴れき under the 厂 radical. Logical enough, but guess what: the actual radical is 止とめ. How about 聞? Would you say 門もん? Nope, 耳みみ is the radical. And how about 巡じゅん? Think it’s 辶 ? Sorry, it’s 巛, which is also the radical for 川がわ and 州しゅう.

And 巛 leads me to my next gripe; single radicals have multiple forms. 火ひ部ぶ (かぶ: the “fire” radical) can become 灬 (not to be confused with 㣺, which is a form of 心しん部ぶ (しんぶ). 水みず部ぶ (すいぶ) is another shape-shifter that can become 氵or 氺. In Japanese, the meaning and origin matters just as much as the shape itself.

Your kanji learner’s dictionary has probably also invented some radicals that (although logical and helpful) don’t actually exist! Those dots at the top of 営 and 学がく? Sorry. How about the two dots and long stroke on 前まえ, 美よし, 首くび? Also imaginary radicals.

Don’t despair!

Even native speakers–unless they’re actively studying kanji–don’t know radicals very well either. To get to their level you basically just need to have a general idea of how the system works including some of its quirks (like those explained above), and also remember terms for a few common radical forms.

So, let’s move on to some vocabulary! Actually, once you get the basics, most of the time you can come up with these terms on the spot. For example; 偏へん（へん） is the word for a radical on the left side of a kanji, so 松まつ is 木偏きへん（きへん）, 銀ぎん is 金偏かねへん（かねへん), 地ち is 土偏つちへん (つちへん) , and so on.

First, a quick note: while each kanji has only one  部首ぶしゅ (ぶしゅ), or radical, which is used for classification purposes. Kanji are usually made up of  multiple components (要素ようそ: ようそ). Various kanji components are also referred to as “radicals” (especially in English), which in the strict definition of “radical” is incorrect. Even so, the following terms are still useful for description and communication. For example, the 部首ぶしゅ of 聞 is 耳みみ, but you can still describe the kanji with the word 門構もんがまえ(もんがまえ).

In this list, I tried to cover common but not obviously-named radicals. Here’s a link (Japanese) to a much more complete collection if you’re interested. The Japanese Wikipedia article on radicals is also packed with detailed info. The English Wikipedia article isn’t so shabby either.

Most radicals can be classified in one of seven types, depending on their position in the kanji.

Table: Basic Radical Vocabulary

This table gives the names of various components (in hiragana), and several example kanji for each. If I thought clarification was helpful or necessary, I added the kanji on which the component is based in parenthesis after the hiragana reading.

部首ぶしゅ	：ぶしゅ - Radical (for classification)
偏へん	：へん – Left-side component
	さんずい (水)すい ：　海うみ 泳およげ 池ち	にんべん (人ひと) ： 仕つかまつ 休きゅう 他ほか
	にすい (氷こおり) ： 冷ひえ 凍こお	ごんべん ： 話はなし 語ご 記き
	こざとへん (阜) ： 阪ばん 限げん 降くだ	ぎょうにんべん ： 待まて 得え 後のち
	けものへん (犬いぬ) ： 猫ねこ 犯はん 独どく	がつへん ： 残ざん 殆 殊こと
	ころもへん (衣ころも) ： 袖そで 裾すそ 裸はだか	とりへん ： 配はい 酎 酢す
	しめすへん (示しめせ) ： 社しゃ 祝しゅく 神しん	りっしんべん (心しん) ： 性せい 怖こわ 忙せわし
旁つくり	： つくり – Right-side component
	りっとう (刀かたな) ： 刊かん 列れつ 利り	ぼくづくり (攴) ： 攻おさむ 改あらため 政せい
	おおがい ： 頭あたま 頃ごろ 頂いただき	ほこ／るまた ： 殴なぐ 段だん 殺ころせ
	おおざと (邑) ： 都と 郊 邪よこしま	とます ： 料りょう 斜はす
	さんづくり ： 形かたち 影かげ 彩いろどり	おのづくり ： 新しん 斬き 斯
	ふるとり ： 難なん 雅まさ 雄つよし	また ： 取と 収おさむ 双そう
冠かんむり	： かんむり – Top-side component
	くさかんむり (草くさ) ： 茶ちゃ 苗なえ 苦く	わかんむり (ワ) ： 冗 冠かんむり 冥めい
	うかんむり (ウ) ： 安あん 完かん 客きゃく	あみがしら (网) ： 置おけ 罪ざい 罠わな
	たけかんむり (竹たけ) ： 答こたえ 第だい 等ひとし	なべぶた ： 京きょう 交 亭てい
	あながしら ： 空そら 究きわむ 窓まど	はつがしら ： 登とう 発はつ
脚あし	： あし – Bottom-side component
	したごころ (心しん) ： 恭きょう 慕	ひとあし ： 元もと 兄あに 光こう
	れんが (火)か ： 烈れつ 無む 然しか	したみず ： 泰やすし
垂たれ	： たれ – Top+left-side component
	がんだれ ： 原はら 厚あつし 厓	まだれ ： 店みせ 床ゆか 度ど
	やまいだれ ： 病やまい 疲つかれ 症しょう	とだれ ： 戻もど 房ぼう 扉とびら
繞にょう	： にょう – Bottom+left component
	しんにょう (辵) ： 道みち 近きん 追おい	えんにょう ： 延のべ 建けん 廻まわり
	そうにょう ： 起おこし 越えつ 赴
構	： かまえ – Enclosing component
	もんがまえ ： 間あいだ 開ひらき 閉	ぎょうがまえ ： 街まち 術じゅつ 衡
	くにがまえ ： 国くに 園えん 四よん	つつみがまえ ： 包つつみ 匂におい 勿

A couple other quirks

There’s a couple radicals that appear identical, but are actually considered different. Look at the these two characters:

服ふく 肌はだ

See that 月がつ? Well on the left, it’s the moon radical (月)げつ. But on the right it’s the flesh radical (肉にく). The too components look and are written exactly the same, but if the meaning of the kanji has anything to do with the body, it’s the 肉にく radical.

So in 服ふく the component is called つきへん but in 肌はだ it’s called にくづき.

Next, look at these:

今いま 全あきら

The radicals of these kanji are also written and look the same, but differ according to what kanji they are based on. 今いま’s radical is 人じん, and this form is called 人屋じんおく根ね（ひとやね) . 全ぜん is 入いれ, and in this instance is referred to as 入にゅう頭あたま (いりがしら).

Finally, I want to mention the kanji 書しょ. Ever thought it strange that the kanji for “writing” had the sun radical? Yes, the 日び on the bottom is the radical. But it’s not 日び. It’s actually derived from 曰 (いわく). Look closely: 日にち 曰. 曰 is a pretty rare kanji/radical that means “to speak”.

The bottom piece of 書しょ is still written as 日び, but just know that the kanji isn’t actually classified that way.

advanced components kanji radicals Posted under Language & Study by Nihonshock.