The 214 Traditional Kanji Radicals and Their Meanings

6/13/2017 The214traditionalkanjiradicalsandtheirmeanings
Kanji alive
A free study tool for reading and writing kanji
The 214 traditional kanji radicals and their variants

Kanji are classied in kanji dictionaries according to their main components which are called radicals (roots)
in English and () in Japanese. () means a group and () means a chief (head/neck).
There are 214 historical radicals derived from the 18th century Kangxi dictionary.
Every kanji without exception only has one radical / (). Each radical has a meaning(s) and lends
its meaning(s) to the kanji of which it is part. Please take a look at the examples below. The right part of
these three kanji is the same but the left part is dierent. The left part of these kanji is their radical. Note
how each radical imparts its meaning to the kanji:
: The radical of this kanji is (sun, day, time). The meaning of this kanji is time.
: The radical of this kanji is (words, to speak, say). The meaning of this kanji is poetry, poem.
: The radical of this kanji is (hand). The meaning of this kanji is to hold.
For this reason it is very important to learn each kanjis radical, as well as the meaning(s) of its radical. Not
all 214 radicals are in use in current Japanese but you will soon become familiar with the most important
ones and their variants.
There are no ocial Japanese names for radicals. But there are certain commonly-used names. That is why
you will nd dierences in the Japanese names for the radicals on dierent websites and dictionaries.
Radicals are categorized into seven main groups according to their position within a kanji. Please note that
some kanji are also radicals in and of themselves (such as , , ). In those cases, the kanji and the radical
are one and the same, and thus the position of the radical in the kanji is irrelevant. As a result they do not
fall into any one of the seven categories.
(hen) Radicals on the left side of the kanji
(tsukuri) Radicals on the right
(kanmuri) Radicals on the top
(ashi) Radicals on the bottom
(kamae) Radicals which enclose the kanji
https://kanjialive.com/214traditionalkanjiradicals/ 1/40
(tare) Radicals which "hang down"
(nyou) Radicals which wrap around the bottom of a character
With ourweb application (http://app.kanjialive.com) you can search for kanji by radical name, stroke,
meaning or position using the Advanced Search syntax (for example, rjn:miru or rjn: to search by
Japanese name, rs:7 to search by stroke number, rem:see to search by English meaning, and
rpos: or rpos:tsukuri as examples for searching for kanji by the positionof the radical). Please
consult ourUser Guide to learn about additionalsearch options.
Tip:By default, the radicals in thelist below are presented in ascending stroke order. However you can also
focus on a specic stroke number or look for individual radicals by usingthe Search eld at the top of the
table. Alternatively you can click on a column heading to sort the entire table by that heading. This is also a
good way to focus on just the most important radicals. Clicking on the a variant of.. link scrolls the page to
the original version of that radical.
Tip: You can also use the tables own search eld to search/lter radicals by position. Use the radical
positions table as a reference. For example, to view all radicals in the hang down position, type or
tare into the search eld. To avoid ambiguities amongst the dierent kinds of enclosed radicals, search
for these in hiragana. Placing yourmouse pointer over any position symbol in the radical table reveals its
Japanese name.
Fonts: Many of the radical characters shown on this list are not supported by theJapanese fonts widely
used onWindows, OS X or Linux (some not even inUnicode). For these reasons we created Japanese
Radicals, an open-source font derived fromSource Han Sans with 60 custom glyphs which add support for
everyJapanese radical and variant.The font is freely availablefor private or commercial use.
Tip: If youd like a copy of the radicals tables in a format better suited for printing or if youd like to re-use
thisdata in another application, please visit ouropen-source repositoryon GitHub. Most of thelanguage
data and media les used in Kanji alive are freely available under a Creative Commons CC-BY license.
Search:
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE
1 one, horizontal

stroke
1 vertical stroke

1 dot

1 diagonal

sweeping
stroke
1 diagonal a variant of

sweeping
stroke
1 the second

1 the second a variant of

1 vertical stroke

with a hook
2 two

2 lid, top Important

2 person

2 person a variant of Important

2 person a variant of Important

2 human legs Important

2 to enter

2 eight

2 eight a variant of

2 to enclose

2 cover, crown Important

2 ice

2 table

2 wind a variant of

2 container,

open box
2 knife, sword

2 knife, sword a variant of Important

2 power

2 to wrap

2 spoon

2 box

2 to conceal,

hide
2 ten

2 oracle

2 stamp, seal

2 cli Important

2 private,

Katakana Mu
2 again, right

hand
3 mouth

3 mouth a variant of Important

3 border, Important

territorial
boundaries
3 earth

3 earth a variant of Important

3 man, scholar,

samurai
3 man, scholar, a variant of

samurai

3 to follow

3 to go slowly

3 evening

3 large, big

3 woman

3 woman a variant of Important

3 child, son

3 child, son a variant of Important

3 roof, house Important

3 inch, (2.25 cm)

3 inch, (2.25 cm) a variant of

3 small

3 small a variant of

3 lame leg

3 corpse, awning

3 sprout

3 mountain

3 mountain a variant of

3 mountain a variant of

3 winding river

3 river a variant of

3 work,

carpenter, skill
3 work, a variant of

carpenter, skill
3 self

3 cloth

3 cloth a variant of

3 to dry, shield

3 young, slight

3 slanting roof Important

3 to move,

stretch
3 folded hands

3 javelin

3 bow in

archery
3 bow in a variant of

archery
3 pigs head

3 pigs head a variant of

3 pigs head a variant of

3 hair-style, light

rays
3 step, stride, Important

street, to go
3 grass a variant of Important

3 road, walk, to a variant of Important

advance

3 village, a variant of Important

country, city
3 hill, mound a variant of Important

3 Katakana Tsu

3 heart, mind, a variant of Important

spirit
3 hand a variant of Important

3 water a variant of Important

3 beast a variant of Important

4 heart, mind,

spirit
4 heart, mind, a variant of

spirit
4 spear, weapon

4 door

4 door a variant of

4 hand

4 branch

4 activity, to

strike, hit
4 activity, to a variant of Important

strike, hit

4 literature,

letters
4 big dipper,

ladle, 18 liters
4 axe

4 direction, ag

4 direction, ag a variant of

4 not

4 sun, day, time

4 sun, day, time a variant of Important

4 to say

4 moon, month,

period
4 moon, month, a variant of

period
4 meat, esh a variant of Important

4 tree, wood

4 tree, wood a variant of Important

4 to lack, yawn

4 to stop

4 death & dying,

to decompose
4 death & dying, a variant of

to decompose
4 lance shaft,

action
4 not, mother

4 to compare

4 hair

4 family, clan

4 steam, air

4 water

4 re

4 re a variant of Important

4 re a variant of Important

4 claw, nail

4 claw, nail a variant of

4 claw, nail a variant of

4 father

4 to mix

4 split wood

4 split wood

4 split wood a variant of

4 fang, canine

tooth
4 cow

4 cow a variant of

4 dog

4 jewelry, a variant of Important

jeweled king
4 altar, festival, a variant of Important

religious
service
4 net a variant of

4 old, old-age a variant of

5 darkness

5 jewelry

5 melon

5 tile

5 sweet

5 birth, to be

born, live
5 to use

5 rice paddy

5 rice paddy a variant of

5 bolt of cloth

5 bolt of cloth a variant of

5 sickness Important

5 outspread legs,

departure
5 white

5 white a variant of

5 skin, hide

5 plate, bowl

5 eye

5 eye a variant of Important

5 eye a variant of

5 halberd

5 halberd a variant of

5 arrow

5 arrow a variant of

5 stone

5 stone a variant of

5 altar, festival,

religious
service
5 footprint

5 grain Important

5 hole, cave

5 hole, cave a variant of Important

5 to stand

5 to stand a variant of

5 fang, canine a variant of

tooth
5 fang, canine a variant of

tooth
5 water a variant of

5 net a variant of

5 net a variant of

5 clothing a variant of Important

5 not a variant of

6 bamboo

6 bamboo a variant of Important

6 rice

6 rice a variant of Important

6 thread

6 thread a variant of Important

6 earthen jar

6 net

6 sheep

6 sheep a variant of

6 feather, wing

6 feather, wing a variant of

6 old, old-age

6 and also

6 plow

6 ear

6 ear a variant of

6 writing brush

6 esh, meat

6 retainer,

minister
6 self

6 to arrive, reach

6 to arrive, reach a variant of

6 mortar, quern

6 tongue

6 contrary, to err

6 ship, boat

6 ship, boat a variant of

6 boundary

6 color

6 grass, plant

6 tiger

6 worm, insect,

bug
6 worm, insect, a variant of Important

bug
6 blood

6 to go Important

6 clothing

6 cover, west

6 cover, west a variant of

6 melon a variant of

7 to see

7 horn, corner

7 horn, corner a variant of

7 words, to

speak, say
7 words, to a variant of Important

speak, say
7 valley

7 valley a variant of

7 bean

7 bean a variant of

7 pig

7 badger

7 shell, property,

wealth
7 shell, property, a variant of Important

wealth
7 red

7 to run

7 to run a variant of Important

7 foot, leg

7 foot, leg a variant of Important

7 body

7 body a variant of

7 vehicle, wheel,

car
7 vehicle, wheel, a variant of Important

car
7 bitter

7 Fifth zodiac

sign, 79 A.M.
7 to advance,

move ahead
7 community

7 sake jar, bird

7 sake jar, bird a variant of

7 to separate

7 to separate a variant of

7 village, (3.93

km)
7 village, (3.93 a variant of

km)
7 retainer, a variant of

minister
7 contrary, to err a variant of

7 wheat a variant of

8 metal, gold,

mineral
8 metal, gold, a variant of Important

mineral
8 long

8 gate, door Important

8 hill

8 to capture

8 small bird

8 rain

8 rain a variant of Important

8 blue, green

8 blue, green a variant of

8 wrong, non-

8 food, to eat a variant of

8 alike a variant of

9 face, surface

9 leather

9 leather

9 leek

9 sound, noise

9 head, page Important

9 wind

9 to y

9 food, to eat

9 head

9 scent

10 horse

10 horse a variant of

10 bone

10 bone a variant of

10 high

10 long hair

10 ghting

10 herbs

10 tripod

10 demon

10 leather a variant of

11 sh

11 sh a variant of Important

11 bird

11 salt

11 deer

11 wheat

11 hemp

11 hemp a variant of

11 yellow a variant of

11 black a variant of

11 turtle a variant of

12 yellow

12 millet

12 black

12 embroider

12 tooth a variant of

13 frog

13 tripod

13 drum

13 rat, mouse

14 nose

14 alike

15 tooth

16 dragon

16 turtle

17 ute

References:
The English meanings of each radical in Kanji alive are based on Kanji & Kana by Wolfgang Hadamitzky &
Mark Spahn, (1981), Tuttle Publishing with additional reference to Basic Kanji by Matsuo Soga & Michio Yusa
(1989), Taishkan, and Andrew N. Nelson, The Original Modern Readers Japanese-English Character Dictionary:
Classic Edition, 2nd. ed. (1974), Tuttle Publishing. The Japanese names for the radicals are based on
1989, .
Back to the top
58 thoughts on The 214 traditional kanji radicals and their variants
Alex
August 2, 2013 at 9:33 am
Complete and clear, I nd this very helpful for those starting to learn kanji.
iji
August 20, 2013 at 5:55 am
I dont understand where you use 5 strokes for water. In Kanji Alive Web Interface, water has 4 strokes.
water 4 5
hlory
August 20, 2013 at 10:12 am
Hi iji, thank you for your note. shitamizu is a variant of mizu so in the Kangxi dictionary shitamizu was
listed under 4 strokes. However, when you count the strokes of shitamizu, there are 5 strokes so we
decided to list it in Kanji alive under 5 strokes.
iji
August 26, 2013 at 9:31 am
my Windows XP & browsers cant display some of the radicals (such as , a.s.o.).
is it a font-related problem?
Arno Bosse
August 26, 2013 at 10:11 am
Hi iji, yes, this is a font related problem. Unfortunately most Japanese fonts do not include enough glyphs
(graphical representations of characters) to cover all the radical variants. I can oer two suggestions:
The rst is to switch to Microsofts Meiryo font to show Japanese on the web by following these simple
instructions on our website. This will improve the readability of all Japanese text on any website and should
also provide support for more radical glyphs. However, there will still be a few radicals which cant be
displayed in Meiryo either.
To address this, you could install the free Mplus outline fonts. These will denitely include support for the
radicals used in Kanji alive. We didnt provide instructions for doing this on our website since the process is
potentially a little more complicated but if youre interested in using Mplus we would be more than happy
to assist you.
iji
August 27, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Thank you very much. I wasnt aware of the Meiryo font. I did have problems with readability and I was
zooming a lot most of the time :)
As for the M+ font, I dont think its worth the trouble for me at this point in time.
PheDz
September 13, 2013 at 1:59 am
Hi, What do you think is the suggested writing to use, is it Kanji or Hiragana? I think its hard to learn the
Kanji. But I want to learn Nihon-go. :)
hlory
September 20, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Hi PheDz,
There are three writing systems in Japanese: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Beginners of the Japanese
language always learn how to read and write Hiragana and Katakana because they are phonetic symbols.
The readings of kanji are sometimes written in Hiragana along with the kanji. So once you learn how to read
Hiragana, you can read any Japanese sentences even though you dont know the meaning of them. For
example, ()()()()(Ashita watashi wa nihon he ikimasu. I am
going to Japan tomorrow) So you need to learn Hiragana rst.
However, you will need to learn kanji eventually because kanji are very useful to grasp the meaning of
words. Even just learning to recognize kanji is very helpful for you to understand the Japanese language.
For example, please take a look at this sentence. (Hashi no hashi de hashi o kau)
This sentence is written in Hiragana only. You can see three times in this sentence. There are many
dierent words with the same pronunciation in Japanese. Each has a dierent meaning. But when you
see the sentence in Hiragana, you cant know which meaning the words in Hiragana have. However, when
this sentence is written in kanji and Hiragana, the meanings are clear. hashi
means a bridge, hashimeans an end or edge and ( hashi) means chopsticks. The
meaning of the sentence is (I am going to) buy chopsticks at the end of a bridge.
I hope you can understand how important learning kanji is for the study of Japanese. Each kanji has a story
behind it. If you learn those stories through radicals and mnemonic hints, the study of kanji will become
enjoyable for you. I hope Kanji alive will help to lead you eectively on this fun journey!
Steve P
October 25, 2013 at 2:27 am
Thats a great response! I am taking an beginning japanese course now, and I am about 98% condent in my
hiragana (theres a few that I keep getting mixed up) 50% of my katakana.
I understand that there are multiple meanings to hashi as it is written in hiragana. But, doesnt this also
apply to how your example sentence is spoken, since hiragana is just a way to transcribe sounds?
Rehn
April 29, 2014 at 2:58 am
I think this is actually a very valid point and its not necessary to the understanding of Kanji. Of course we
have to understand how to read Kanji but if someone were to say this sentence aloud how would you
understand them? Or would you simply rephrase it to be better understood?
Harumi Lory Post author
August 21, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Hi Rehn, Im very sorry we didnt respond to your comment in a timely manner it somehow slipped our
attention.
When you read sentences in Japanese, a knowledge of kanji is helpful for grasping the meaning of words
easily. When you hear or speak the example sentence (hashi no hashi de hashi o kau), the intonation of
hashi lets you know the meaning of each hashi, and the particles help you understand the meaning of
the sentence. So it is important for learners of Japanese to learn all four skills (speaking, listening, reading
and writing) at the same time.
Mariam
March 21, 2017 at 7:14 pm
Wow, this is literally the best answer I have ever read about the importance of the Kanji characters! Thanks
so much for your help, It was really useful & enjoyable to read your comment. Best Regards, hlory san :)
Jac k
December 14, 2014 at 7:21 pm
Im wondering why the list is divided in this odd way, with the stroke numbers 1-12, and then starting again
at 1 and going to 11.
Arno Bosse
Hi Jac,
Did you mean the list of kanji you get following a search in the Kanji alive web app? I only ask because you
posted this question on the page with the list of 214 traditional radicals. I am assuming you meant the list
of kanji shown in the Kanji alive web app after a search.
Here, the results of your searches can be viewed in three dierent ways. Lets assume, as in your example,
some search you entered matched a group of kanji with strokes numbers between 1 and 12. Initially, these
are shown sorted by kanji stroke number in ascending order, 1-12. Click once on the Sort button near the
top of the web apps window and youll now see the same set of kanji grouped by radical stroke number (i.e.
the radicals found in the kanji matching the initial search term). If more than one kanji share a radical, then
these are sorted again by their kanji stroke number. Click on the Sort button again, and youll see the
same kanji grouped by their kanji stroke number. If several kanji share the same stroke number, these are
then sorted again their radical stroke number. Click on Sort one more time and youll return to the initial
(ungrouped) sort order, i.e. by kanji stroke number only. These three options are described more fully in
the User Guide.
I hope this helps make sense of what youre seeing. If it does not, please email us at kanjialive@gmail.com
with a description of the search term you used to produce your earlier results and well try to make sense of
whats going on.
Iuri
January 15, 2015 at 3:44 am
Hi, thanks for posting this, I was looking for a place to to provide me with reference for studying the kanji
radicals, however, I dont seem to nd the stroke order of these radicals, where could I nd the stroke
order?
Arno Bosse
January 15, 2015 at 2:39 pm
Hi Iuri, did you mean #1 the (stroke) order by which radicals are traditionally sorted, or #2 the actual order
of written strokes in a radical itself? For the former, the default order in which the radicals are presented on
this page is the same as their traditional order of representation, i.e. on the basis of their strokes counts.
However, I think you probably meant #2. Im not aware of an online resource with this information, though I
am condent one exists. Of course, in the case of radicals which are also kanji, you can lookup their kanji
stroke using e.g. our own web app, http://app.kanjialive.com. Moreover, since each kanji, precisely
speaking, only contains exactly one radical, if you know any kanji which uses this radical, you can watch the
stroke order of the whole kanji and thus discover the stroke order of the radical within it. Please see the
introduction to this page for dierent ways to search for kanji by radical using the Kanji alive web app. I
hope this helps!
Iuri
February 4, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Thanks for your reply, and sorry for taking so long to answer, yes, I meant #2, Im going to do what you
suggested and look up for kanjis that have the radicals that Im looking for, in order to get their stroke
order, again, thanks!
Laeark
April 22, 2015 at 8:25 am
Hi, i just want to tell to the author that i nd this page the most useful and best explained about the
japanese radicals ( ).
Arno Bosse Post author
April 24, 2015 at 10:46 pm
Thank you! Were glad youve found it to be a useful resource.

May 3, 2015 at 6:04 am
Just nished Elementary Japanese II at the University of Tennessee. I only have about a hundred kanji, so
far, but I am pretty good at itso far:) This is a very helpful site uses it often. Working with various
sources actually.White Rabbit Press Kanji Flash Card (Series 2, Vol. 1 and 2), Graded Reader 1 (Vol. 1,2 ,
and 3), Genki I and II textbooks and workbooks), Genki Look-and-Learn Kanji, etc. Its no more of a struggle
than trying to remember the vocabulary, particles, the many conjugations of verbs, adjectives, nouns, etc
not to the sentence forms!! And the listening!! WowIve given up wondering why the sounds of the
language dont match the romaji.just go with the ow. as stigi (pardon my improve) or () as
shtoo (again, pardon the improve. Sorry, getting o on a lot of tangents! Wonderful and VERY useful site!!!
Leena
May 22, 2015 at 11:46 pm
Hi, I am just a beginner in Japanese. For the rst months Ive learned both Hiragana and Katakana and the
basics in speaking but I think now its the time for me to nally learn kanji ;) I think this site will be very
useful for me but I have a question. Id like to learn all the radicals that are here before going any further
but Im confused about the on and kun-readings Ive heard of. So here are given only the kun-readings?
shouldnt we learn them both with one kanji or not?
Kanji alive
May 25, 2015 at 5:31 pm
Hi Leena, radicals dont have On and Kun readings as such. They do have commonly used names or
nicknames which are written in hiragana. The exception to this are the handful of radicals which are
simultaneously also kanji. These kanji do have On and Kun readings.
Especially as a beginner, its really not necessary for you to learn all of the radicals. Focus instead on the
ones marked Important on http://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/ These radicals will be vital
for your continued study of kanji.
Lastly, even if you are learning kanji by yourself, its usually still a good idea to help organize your course of
studies with the help of a good textbook. To see which textbooks are supported by Kanji alive, please visit
http://kanjialive.com/supported-textbooks/
Diana
May 24, 2015 at 8:19 am
Hi! I simply wanted to thank you!! Its not a great contribution, but your site is so complete, useful and
generous that I had to say it. :)
Kanji alive
May 24, 2015 at 8:49 am
And thank you youre very welcome.
LaVieQ
June 1, 2015 at 4:34 pm
Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to put together all this radical information. Very useful.
One question: In the rst sentence, you say that the in means chief. Doesnt it mean neck? When I
checked the meaning on jisho.org, didnt see alternate meaning of chief. Of course, neck is a chief part
of the body, and, in that sense its meaningful. :-)
LVQ
Kanji alive
June 15, 2015 at 4:59 pm
Hi LVQ, both Jisho.org and The Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary, by Jack Halpern, list the kanji with
possible meanings of neck, head and leader/chief. Thats why on our web page we wrote that in
means chief. However, to avoid possible, weve modied the text to say as used in means chief
(head/neck). Thank you for pointing it out.
Maddy
June 3, 2015 at 5:57 am
Hi! I am a high-school student who has been studying Japanese Language for almost 6 years but I only
started learning Kanji about 3 years ago. I found this site very helpful and have shared it with my teacher.
She also found it to be very accurate and helpful. Thank you for expanding my understanding of Kanji
Radicals!
Lucija
June 6, 2015 at 5:38 pm
Im just starting to learn kanji and this seems really useful.

I just have one questionWhat exactly are kanji radical readings? I understand that kanji have Kunyomi and
Onyomi readings, but what about radicals?
Kanji alive
June 6, 2015 at 6:19 pm
Radicals dont have readings like kanji (please re-read the introduction to the 214 traditional radicals page).
Learn their common names (nicknames) in hiragana so you can refer to them as well as their meanings,
positions and stroke numbers so that you can recognize them in kanji.
Bob
June 13, 2015 at 7:33 pm
this helped me SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much thanks
Pamela
July 19, 2015 at 2:24 pm
I am a Nigerian Otaku who is fascinated by Japan. And I want to watch my anime without having to read the
subtitles, i mean the english dubbed versions are annoying in a way. Thank you for this Radicals, it is easy to
understand.
Cordero
July 31, 2015 at 6:19 pm
I noticed there are two radicals for retainer [], but they look exactly the same to me. However, one is
said to be 6 strokes long and the other is 7 strokes long. I dont see a way of writing this radical with just 6
strokes, though.
Kanji alive
August 5, 2015 at 4:39 pm
Hi Cordero, you are right that there is no dierence, visually, between the two. The old (Tenshotai) form of
this radical originally required 6 strokes to complete. Later, in Japan, the radical came to be drawn with 7
strokes. Since we wanted to oer a full list of all radicals and variants we included both versions. You can
see the dierence between drawing with 6 or with 7 strokes on its Wiktionary page:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/
Cordero
August 7, 2015 at 11:37 pm
Thank you very much. Ill ckeck it out. This site is amazing, by the way; Ive been visiting it from a couple of
months now, and I nd your web application really useful. Congratulations for such a great job.
Kumori Neko
First o, lemme say thank u very much for your eort in making this list. I nd it to be very conclusive and
helpful and this is exactly what I was looking for :D but i do have a question though. Sometimes the
readings are dierent from what i know, for example child you put read as ni, but when i type that hiragana
in my keyboard the radical doesnt show up. But if i type the hiragana kodomo, the radical does show up. I
noticed this for a few of the radicals. How does this work? Thank u in advance :)
Harumi Lory
Dear Kumori Neko san,
Thank you very much for your email. I am glad to hear that Kanji alive is helpful for your study.
To response to your email, I would like to ask you some questions. Are you talking about the radical ? Its
Japanese name is (ko), not (ni). When the radical is used on the left side of a kanji, its Japanese
name is (kohen). Please go to http://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/ and search for
child using the search eld at the top right of the table to see both forms.
You wrote, But if I type the hiragana kodomo, the radical does show up. Did you type in the
search eld on http://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/? If you did type there, then there
should not appear any result, because it is not correct. How did you look for the radical (?
(the word for child) is written with two kanji: . Whether it is a radical or a kanji, whenever is
used by itself, it is pronounced (ko) only.
It is true that there are several dierent Japanese names for each radical. In Kanji alive, the Japanese names
for the radicals are based on 1989, . Please see the
references at the bottom of our 214 radicals web page:
References: The English meanings of each radical in Kanji alive are based on Kanji & Kana by Wolfgang
Hadamitzky & Mark Spahn, (1981), Tuttle Publishing with additional reference to Basic Kanji by Matsuo Soga
& Michio Yusa (1989), Taishkan, and Andrew N. Nelson, The Original Modern Readers Japanese-English
Character Dictionary: Classic Edition, 2nd. ed. (1974), Tuttle Publishing. The Japanese names for the radicals
are based on1989, .
If you have any more questions, please feel free to email us any time.
Best,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
Emma
October 11, 2015 at 12:27 am
Is it important to know which of the seven categories a kanji radical belongs to? Should i memorize the
seven categories and which kanji go in which categories? Im just starting to learn kanji. thank you!
Kanji alive
October 15, 2015 at 8:06 pm
Dear Emma,
Thank you very much for your email.
It is helpful to know the seven main groups according to their position within a kanji but you dont need to
memorize them. When you memorize each kanji, it is more important to learn what radical is used for each
kanji. And please use the Hint to help you memorize how the kanji is composed.
If you have any more questions, please email us any time.
Best,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
ps. The next version of Kanji alive will allow you to search for kanji by the type of position of their radicals.
iji
November 18, 2015 at 3:44 pm
Could you also indicate which radicals are also kanji by themselves?
Thanks thats an excellent suggestion. Well look into adding this feature in the near future.
James
Hi, I am a novice so please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I cannot seem to nd the following
Radicals in your list:
2-stroke

3-stroke

and maybe others. These radicals appear in Jishos list of radicals (http://jisho.org/#radical). Just wondering
why that is.
Kanji alive
October 15, 2015 at 8:03 pm
Dear James,
Thank you for your email.
We listed the 214 radicals based on the Kangxi Dictionary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Dictionary.

According to the Kangxi Dictionary, are not radicals. Thats why you cant nd them
in Kanji alive.
On https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_Japanese_kanji_radicals,, are listed as

radicals under Kanji radicals not recognized by Kangxi. However, they are not taught as radicals in
Japanese schools and many Japanese kanji dictionaries dont list them as radicals.
In fact, have their own radicals according to the Kangxi Dictionary.

The radical of is (otsu).
The radical of is (no).
The radical of is (nabebuta).
The radical of is (otsu).
The radical of is (mata).
is a Katakana. It should be (mu) as a radical.
I think it would be better to learn the basic 214 radicals based on the Kangxi Dictionary for your study.
If you have any more questions, please email us again.
Best regards,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
iji
Is there a reason why there are two radicals not marked as variants: (kazekanmuri) and (katakana
tsu)? This raises the number of radicals to 216.
(kazekanmuri) is a variant of (kinyou, table) which we neglected to note in our table. Thank you for
drawing this to our attention! Its been corrected on the radicals page. (katakana tsu) is a newly added
radical which is why it isnt included in the traditional list of 214 Kangxi radicals.
Soe
February 11, 2017 at 6:06 am
is a variant of . is another variant of (nao, esteem), which is also a variant of (small). Also, seen
in this way, you can derive some possible meaning, like esteem or small. Both variants, and , are
usually seen at the top or above another kanji versus below. Examples- and .
James does bring up a legitimate point, where Kanji Alive appears to be strict Japanese traditionalists about
what radicals to include, but then makes exceptions. Related to that, there is a greater point about
graphemes, kanji used like radicals ( , , and many more), hyougai, and hanzi.
The radicals are used as a reference, but dont explain each part of the kanji. This is where many foreign
students learning Japanese, and even sometimes native Japanese, can have issues. The Japanese kanji are
derived from the Chinese hanzi. With the Chinese hanzi, each element of the character often has a
meaning, and beyond that of just the radical. In various cases, the radical has no meaning, and is just a
description. However, parts of the Chinese hanzi do have a meaning, which in many cases relates to the
meaning of the total character.
I will explain my point. Look at this kanji- it means sweep (ha.ku, so.ji). Many Japanese and foreign
Japanese students would break this kanji down into the following radicals . The result of breaking
down kanji in this way makes remembering and understanding kanji more dicult. For native Japanese, it
might be more tolerable, because of many years of schooling and rote memorization. This is something
many adult foreigner students of Japanese wont have. Another way to break down this kanji is- . The
kanji radical on the left means hand, and the Chinese hanzi on the right means broom. Together, hand +
broom = sweep. A lot easier to understand.
Sha
Ive been studying kanji and Japanese for ages and you just blew my mind with The radical of is
(otsu).
Hahaha!
Rema Viswamani
December 7, 2015 at 6:30 am
Please let me know the Origin of
Kaneki Ken
June 19, 2016 at 12:49 pm
So, Kanji is a combination of two or more radicals??

By the way, this website is AMAZING! So much better that any other Kanji website.
June 19, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Hi Kaneki Ken, thank you for your kind words about our website! Much appreciated. Regarding your
questions: one kanji, one radical! The common confusion about this arises from dierent resources and
websites dening radical in dierent ways. The introduction to our page on Japanese radicals
(https://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/) explains this in a little more detail.
Kaneki Ken
June 23, 2016 at 12:58 pm
Thank you very much! About Kanji, which books are the best for learning them?
Im terribly sorry for disturbing you with questions.
Thank you!
June 24, 2016 at 9:15 am
We hesitate to make an explicit textbook recommendation for independent learners since so much
depends on your individual preferences and learning goals. And of course if youre learning kanji at a school
or college etc. then you should follow the recommendations of your instructor. That being said, as a starting
point, you may wish to look at the Genki series, which we described in this response to a question very
similar to your own.
Mariam
August 24, 2016 at 8:48 pm
Hello, Im wondering if theres any visual dierence between the radical () and the radical (
). I understand that their meanings are dierent. Thank you.
Hello Mariam,
Thank you for your great question and please excuse this late response. Heres the reply I got from Sensei
Lory: When you see the typefaces of these two radicals, they look almost alike. However, when we write
them by hand, they should be written in two dierent ways. For kunigamae, we usually write the vertical
lines straight. So the two horizontal lines are almost the same length. And the vertical lines of kunigamae
are longer than those of kuchi. For kuchi, we usually write the vertical line on the left slightly diagonal
towards the right and the vertical line on the right slightly diagonal to the left. So the top horizontal line is
longer than the one on the bottom. Hope this helps!
victor
may i copy it im going to give you credit on it.i am learning kanji
Hi Victor, youre very welcome to copy and re-use all of the language data and media les used to create
Kanji alive (for example, to create your own Anki sets) as long as you give proper credit and include a
reference to the license used to share this data. Youll nd our language and media les on
https://github.com/kanjialive/
Everett Flores
Some have said that the key to learning kanji is to learn the radicals. Is this true? And even if it is, wouldnt it
also be true that the stroke order of the radicals is just as important? Where can I learn the stroke order for
the radicals? Thank you for this site, your answers, and your time.
Harumi Lory
December 19, 2016 at 1:17 am
Dear Everett,
Thank you for your email.
It is true that learning radicals is important to learn kanji because each radical has meaning. But when it
comes to writing the radicals, I think it is best to practice writing them as integral parts of the kanji in which
they are contained.
If you are learning kanji on your own, you can search kanji by radical (e.g. rjn:gonben) and pull up all kanji
with that radical. Then you can learn the stroke order of the entire kanji, including the radical. In that way,
you will also learn the stroke order of the radical by itself. But I do not recommend you practice writing
radicals by themselves, separate from kanji.
I hope Kanji alive is helpful for your study of Japanese kanji.
Best,
Harumi Lory
Kanji alive team
Hope
May 1, 2017 at 12:48 am
Hey!
This is very useful, as I am beginning to learn Japanese. I have most of the hiragana down and some
Katakana. I wanted to get started on the kanji.
To be honest, the concept of memorizing so many characters and their names/ sounds terries me. I have
no idea where to start and how to learn them. A friend suggested learning radicals, so this is why Im here.
Where do I start with learning them? Whats an easy way to memorize all of them? And do I need to learn
them all?
After I nish learning radicals, will I be prepared enough to learn Kanji?
Sorry for all the questions, and thank you for your time.

The 214 Traditional Kanji Radicals and Their Meanings

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The 214 traditional kanji radicals and their variants

(hen) Radicals on the left side of the kanji

(tsukuri) Radicals on the right

(kanmuri) Radicals on the top

(ashi) Radicals on the bottom

(kamae) Radicals which enclose the kanji

(tare) Radicals which "hang down"

(nyou) Radicals which wrap around the bottom of a character

consult ourUser Guide to learn about additionalsearch options.

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

1 the second a variant of

2 lid, top Important

2 person a variant of Important

2 person a variant of Important

2 human legs Important

2 cover, crown Important

2 knife, sword a variant of Important

3 mouth a variant of Important

3 earth a variant of Important

3 man, scholar, a variant of

3 woman a variant of Important

3 child, son a variant of Important

3 roof, house Important

3 inch, (2.25 cm)

3 inch, (2.25 cm) a variant of

3 slanting roof Important

3 pigs head a variant of

3 pigs head a variant of

3 step, stride, Important

3 grass a variant of Important

3 road, walk, to a variant of Important

3 village, a variant of Important

3 hill, mound a variant of Important

3 heart, mind, a variant of Important

3 hand a variant of Important

3 water a variant of Important

3 beast a variant of Important

4 heart, mind, a variant of

4 activity, to a variant of Important

4 sun, day, time

4 sun, day, time a variant of Important

4 moon, month, a variant of

4 meat, esh a variant of Important

4 tree, wood a variant of Important

4 death & dying,

4 death & dying, a variant of

4 claw, nail a variant of

4 claw, nail a variant of

4 split wood a variant of

4 jewelry, a variant of Important

4 altar, festival, a variant of Important

4 old, old-age a variant of

5 rice paddy a variant of

5 bolt of cloth a variant of

5 eye a variant of Important

5 hole, cave a variant of Important

5 fang, canine a variant of

5 fang, canine a variant of

5 clothing a variant of Important

6 bamboo a variant of Important

6 rice a variant of Important

6 thread a variant of Important

6 feather, wing a variant of