Chinese Radicals and Components List - Free PDF and Flashcards

Chinese characters can feel like a tangle of lines until you start noticing the repeating pieces-those small, stubborn squiggles that show up again and again. Radicals and components are the building blocks of every character you’ll ever meet. Learn to spot them, and you’ll stop seeing a wall of chaos and start seeing a system that actually makes sense.

This list hands you around 190 common Chinese radicals and components, stripped of dusty textbook jargon. Each entry comes with a straightforward meaning and a practical example sentence, so you see exactly how the part behaves inside a real character or word. No guesswork-just the visual clues that unlock reading, typing, and writing.

Ready to decode Chinese like a curious word detective? Scroll to the bottom of the article for the free printable Chinese radicals and components list vocabulary list PDF and the free downloadable printable Chinese radicals and components list flashcards.

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Quick Quiz

Think you’ve locked a few radicals into your brain? The quick quiz below will show you which ones you can already spot and which could use another pass-no stress, just a friendly nudge.

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Browse the Full List

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	Example	Example Pinyin
一	yī	one	二	èr
丨	shù	line	中
丶	zhǔ	dot stroke	点	diǎn
丿	piě	slash stroke	乃	nǎi
乙	yǐ	second, twisted stroke	九	jiǔ
乚	yǐ	second (variant)	艺
乛	yǐ	cover	买
亅	gōu	hook	了
二	èr	two	云
亠	tóu	lid	京	jīng
人	rén	person	你	nǐ
亻	rén		他 tā	他是老师。Tā shì lǎoshī.
儿	ér	legs	兄	xiōng
入	rù	enter	全
八	bā	eight; division	分	fēn
冂	jiǒng	down box	冈
冖	mì	cover	写	xiě
冫	bīng	ice	冰	bīng
几	jī, jǐ	table	机
凵	qǔ	open box	凶
刀	dāo	knife	切	qiē
刂	dāo	knife	利	lì
力	lì	power	男	nán
勹	bāo	wrap	包	bāo
匕	bǐ	spoon, ladle	北	běi

Free Chinese Radicals and Components List PDF and Flashcards to Download

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