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
山	shān	mountain	岩	yán
巛	chuān	river	巡
川	chuān	river	川
工	gōng	work, labor	攻	gōng
己	jǐ	self	起	qǐ
巾	jīn	towel, cloth	布	bù
干	gān	dry	平
幺	yāo	thread	幻
广	guǎng	wide, shelter	店	diàn
廴	yǐn	stride	建
廾	gǒng	hands joined	弄
弋	yì	shoot with a bow	式
弓	gōng	bow (archery)	张	zhāng
彐	jì	pig snout	雪	xuě
彡	shān	hair, bristle, or ornamental tuft	彩	cǎi
彳	chì	step	行	xíng
心	xīn	heart	想	xiǎng
忄	xīn	heart (vertical)	情	qíng
戈	gē	dagger-axe; weapon	战	zhàn
户	hù	door; household	房	fáng
手	shǒu	hand	拿	ná
扌	shǒu	hand (radical)	打	dǎ
支	zhī	branch	放
攴	pū	rap	教
攵	pū	to tap or strike (indicates action)	放	fàng

Free Chinese Radicals and Components List PDF and Flashcards to Download

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