Kanji alive

A free study tool for reading and writing kanji

The 214 traditional kanji radicals and their

variants
Kanji are classified 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 different. 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 official Japanese names for radicals. But there are certain commonly-used names. That
is why you will find differences in the Japanese names for the radicals on different 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

(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 to search 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 specific stroke number or look for individual radicals by usingthe Search field
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 field to search/filter 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 field. To avoid ambiguities amongst the different 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 files 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
sweeping of
stroke

1 the second

1 the second
a variant
of

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

1 vertical

stroke with a
hook

2 two

2 lid, top Important

2 person

2 person Important
a variant
of

2 person Important
a variant

of

2 human legs Important

2 to enter

2 eight

2 eight
a variant
of

2 to enclose

2 cover, crown Important

2 ice
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

2 table

2 wind
a variant
of

2 container,

open box

2 knife, sword

2 knife, sword Important

a variant
of

2 power

2 to wrap

2 spoon

2 box

2 to conceal,

hide

2 ten

2 oracle

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

2 stamp, seal

2 cliff Important

2 private,

Katakana Mu

2 again, right

hand

3 mouth

3 mouth Important
a variant
of

3 border, Important

territorial
boundaries

3 earth

3 earth Important
a variant
of

3 man,

scholar,
samurai

3 man,
a variant
scholar, of
samurai
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

3 to follow

3 to go slowly

3 evening

3 large, big

3 woman

3 woman Important
a variant
of

3 child, son

3 child, son Important

a variant
of

3 roof, house Important

3 inch, (2.25

cm)

3 inch, (2.25
a variant
cm) of

3 small

3 small
a variant
of

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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
carpenter, of
skill

3 self

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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
archery of

3 pigs head

3 pigs head
a variant
of

3 pigs head

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

a variant
of

3 hair-style,

light rays

3 step, stride, Important

street, to go

3 grass Important
a variant
of

3 road, walk, Important

a variant
to advance of

3 village, Important
a variant
country, city of

3 hill, mound Important

a variant
of

3 Katakana

Tsu

3 heart, mind, Important

a variant
spirit of

3 hand Important

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

a variant
of

3 water Important
a variant
of

3 beast Important
a variant
of

4 heart, mind,

spirit

4 heart, mind,
a variant
spirit of

4 spear,

weapon

4 door

4 door
a variant
of

4 hand

4 branch

4 activity, to

strike, hit

4 Important

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

activity, to a variant
strike, hit of

4 literature,

letters

4 big dipper,

ladle, 18

liters

4 axe

4 direction,

flag

4 direction,
a variant
flag of

4 not

4 sun, day,

time

4 sun, day, Important

a variant
time of

4 to say

4 moon,

month,
period
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

4 moon,
a variant
month, of
period

4 meat, flesh Important

a variant
of

4 tree, wood

4 tree, wood Important

a variant
of

4 to lack, yawn

4 to stop

4 death &

dying, to
decompose

4 death &
a variant
dying, to of
decompose

4 lance shaft,

action

4 not, mother

4 to compare

4 hair

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

4 family, clan

4 steam, air

4 water

4 fire

4 fire Important
a variant
of

4 fire Important
a variant
of

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

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

a variant
of

4 fang, canine

tooth

4 cow

4 cow
a variant
of

4 dog

4 jewelry, Important
a variant
jeweled king of

4 altar, Important
a variant
festival, of
religious
service

4 net
a variant
of

4 old, old-age
a variant
of

5 darkness
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

5 white
a variant

of

5 skin, hide

5 plate, bowl

5 eye

5 eye Important
a variant
of

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

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

5 altar,

festival,
religious
service

5 footprint

5 grain Important

5 hole, cave

5 hole, cave Important

a variant
of

5 to stand

5 to stand
a variant
of

5 fang, canine
a variant
tooth of

5 fang, canine
a variant
tooth of

5 water
a variant
of

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

5 net
a variant
of

5 net
a variant
of

5 clothing Important
a variant
of

5 not
a variant
of

6 bamboo

6 bamboo Important
a variant
of

6 rice

6 rice Important
a variant
of

6 thread

6 thread Important
a variant
of

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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 flesh, meat

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

6 retainer,

minister

6 self

6 to arrive,

reach

6 to arrive,
a variant
reach 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

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

6 worm,

insect, bug

6 worm, Important
a variant
insect, bug of

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

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

words, to
speak, say

7 words, to Important
a variant
speak, say of

7 valley

7 valley
a variant
of

7 bean

7 bean
a variant
of

7 pig

7 badger

7 shell,

property,
wealth

7 shell, Important
a variant
property, of
wealth

7 red

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

7 to run

7 to run Important
a variant
of

7 foot, leg

7 foot, leg Important

a variant
of

7 body

7 body
a variant

of

7 vehicle,

wheel, car

7 vehicle, Important
a variant
wheel, car of

7 bitter

7 Fifth zodiac

sign, 79
A.M.

7 to advance,

move ahead

7 community
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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
km) of

7 retainer,
a variant
minister of

7 contrary, to
a variant
err of

7 wheat
a variant
of

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

8 metal, gold,

mineral

8 metal, gold, Important

a variant
mineral of

8 long

8 gate, door Important

8 hill

8 to capture

8 small bird

8 rain

8 rain Important
a variant
of

8 blue, green

8 blue, green
a variant
of

8 wrong, non-

8 food, to eat

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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 fly

9 food, to eat

9 head

9 scent

10 horse

10 horse
STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

a variant
of

10 bone

10 bone
a variant
of

10 high

10 long hair

10 fighting

10 herbs

10 tripod

10 demon

10 leather
a variant
of

11 fish

11 fish Important

STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

a variant
of

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

 STROKE# RADICAL POSITION MEANING READING NOTES IMPORTANCE

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 flute

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