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：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 (いち) has a radical (or rather, is a radical), which by the way is used to classify these guys: 三さんさん七上下不丁世且丙丑. Oddly enough, although 一いちいち is the radical for 三さんさん, it is not the radical for 二にに. 二にに 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 歴れきれき under the 厂 radical. Logical enough, but guess what: the actual radical is 止とめとめ. How about 聞? Would you say 門もんもん? Nope, 耳みみみみ is the radical. And how about 巡めぐじゅん? Think it’s 辶 ? Sorry, it’s 巛, which is also the radical for 川かわがわ and 州しゅうしゅう.

And 巛 leads me to my next gripe; single radicals have multiple forms. 火ひひ部ぶぶ (かぶ: the “fire” radical) can become 灬 (not to be confused with 㣺, which is a form of 心しんしん部ぶぶ (しんぶ). 水みずみず部ぶぶ (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 学がくがく? Sorry. How about the two dots and long stroke on 前まえまえ, 美よしよし, 首くびくび? 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（へん） is the word for a radical on the left side of a kanji, so 松まつまつ is 木偏きへんきへん（きへん）, 銀ぎんぎん is 金偏かねへんかねへん（かねへん), 地ちち is 土偏つちへんつちへん (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 (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: 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 部首ぶしゅぶしゅ of 聞 is 耳みみみみ, but you can still describe the kanji with the word 門構もんがまえもんがまえ(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	：ぶしゅ - Radical (for classification)
偏へんへん	：へん – Left-side component
	さんずい (水)すいすい ：　海うみうみ 泳およげおよげ 池いけち	にんべん (人ひとひと) ： 仕つかまつつかまつ 休きゅうきゅう 他たほか
	にすい (氷こおりこおり) ： 冷ひやひえ 凍こおこお	ごんべん ： 話はなしはなし 語かたりご 記きき
	こざとへん (阜) ： 阪ばんばん 限かぎりげん 降くだくだ	ぎょうにんべん ： 待まちまて 得とくえ 後のちのち
	けものへん (犬いぬいぬ) ： 猫ねこねこ 犯はんはん 独どくどく	がつへん ： 残ざんざん 殆 殊ことこと
	ころもへん (衣ころもころも) ： 袖そでそで 裾すそすそ 裸はだかはだか	とりへん ： 配はいはい 酎 酢すす
	しめすへん (示しめせしめせ) ： 社しゃしゃ 祝しゅくしゅく 神かみしん	りっしんべん (心しんしん) ： 性せいせい 怖こわこわ 忙せわしせわし
旁つくりつくり	： つくり – Right-side component
	りっとう (刀かたなかたな) ： 刊かんかん 列れつれつ 利りり	ぼくづくり (攴) ： 攻おさむおさむ 改あらためあらため 政せいせい
	おおがい ： 頭あたまあたま 頃ころごろ 頂いただきいただき	ほこ／るまた ： 殴なぐなぐ 段だんだん 殺ころせころせ
	おおざと (邑) ： 都とと 郊 邪よこしまよこしま	とます ： 料りょうりょう 斜はすはす
	さんづくり ： 形かたちかたち 影かげかげ 彩いろどりいろどり	おのづくり ： 新しんしん 斬きき 斯
	ふるとり ： 難なんなん 雅みやびまさ 雄ゆうつよし	また ： 取とと 収おさむおさむ 双そうそう
冠かんむりかんむり	： かんむり – Top-side component
	くさかんむり (草くさくさ) ： 茶ちゃちゃ 苗なえなえ 苦くく	わかんむり (ワ) ： 冗 冠かんむりかんむり 冥めいめい
	うかんむり (ウ) ： 安やすあん 完かんかん 客きゃくきゃく	あみがしら (网) ： 置おけおけ 罪つみざい 罠わなわな
	たけかんむり (竹たけたけ) ： 答こたえこたえ 第だいだい 等ひとしひとし	なべぶた ： 京きょうきょう 交 亭ちんてい
	あながしら ： 空そらそら 究きわむきわむ 窓まどまど	はつがしら ： 登とうとう 発はつはつ
脚あしあし	： あし – Bottom-side component
	したごころ (心しんしん) ： 恭きょうきょう 慕	ひとあし ： 元もともと 兄あにあに 光ひかりこう
	れんが (火ひ)か ： 烈れつれつ 無むむ 然しかしか	したみず ： 泰やすしやすし
垂たれたれ	： たれ – Top+left-side component
	がんだれ ： 原はらはら 厚あつあつし 厓	まだれ ： 店みせみせ 床ゆかゆか 度どど
	やまいだれ ： 病やまいやまい 疲つかれつかれ 症しょうしょう	とだれ ： 戻もどもど 房ぼうぼう 扉とびらとびら
繞にょうにょう	： にょう – Bottom+left component
	しんにょう (辵) ： 道みちみち 近ちかきん 追おいおい	えんにょう ： 延のべのべ 建けんけん 廻まわりまわり
	そうにょう ： 起おこりおこし 越こしえつ 赴
構	： かまえ – Enclosing component
	もんがまえ ： 間あいだあいだ 開ひらくひらき 閉	ぎょうがまえ ： 街まちまち 術じゅつじゅつ 衡
	くにがまえ ： 国くにくに 園えんえん 四よんよん	つつみがまえ ： 包つつみつつみ 匂においにおい 勿

A couple other quirks

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

服ふくふく 肌はだはだ

See that 月つきがつ? Well on the left, it’s the moon radical (月)げつげつ. But on the right it’s the flesh radical (肉にくにく). 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 肉にくにく radical.

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

Next, look at these:

今いまいま 全ちょんあきら

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

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

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

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