Living Language: Complete Guide To Chinese Characters

Complete Guide to Chinese Characters
Copyright 2012 by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc. www.livinglanguage.com
Introduction: Characters and Pnyn 6
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LESSON 1 Basic Strokes LESSON 3 Turning Strokes LESSON 5 Stroke Order
LESSON 2 More Basic Strokes
LESSON 4 More Turning Strokes
LESSON 6 Introduction to Radicals
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Course
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LESSON 7 Radicals: People
LESSON 9 Radicals: Body Parts 2
LESSON 11 Radicals: Nature 2
LESSON 8 Radicals: Body Parts 1
LESSON 10 Radicals: Nature 1
LESSON 12 Practice
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Character Practice 84
outline
Introduction: Characters and Pnyn

The goal of this guide is to teach you the essentials for reading and writing in Mandarin Chinese so that you can write and decipher almost any Chinese character on your own, well beyond the specific characters presented here. In this guide, we will start with the basics of writing Chinese characters and then move on to reading individual characters, full sentences, and short paragraphs.
CHINESE CHARACTERS
Written Chinese is made up of a system of characters rather than an alphabet. There are tens of thousands of Chinese characters, but only about 4,000 of them are actually used in everyday literature and conversation. Of those 4,000 characters, approximately 2,500 of them are considered the most frequently used. A Chinese college graduate generally knows about 4,000 characters, while elementary school students are required to learn about 2,000 characters over the span of six years. Of course, 2,000 4,000 characters probably still seems like quite a lot. However, dont get discouraged. Chinese characters are made up of smaller components that help you to figure out meaning and/or pronunciation. And there are only about 200 of those smaller components. You will learn more about them in Part 2. In this guide, we will be teaching the simplified form of Chinese characters, which is the standard in mainland China. Youll learn more about simplified characters in Part 1.
Complete Guide to Chinese Characters

Pnyn is a system that uses the Latin alphabet to represent the sounds in standard Mandarin Chinese. It was devised for people who do not read hnz (Chinese characters) to read Chinese sounds. In fact, hnz itself is an example of a pnyn word. It is a transliteration, or Latin version, of . It tells you that is pronounced hnz.
PNYN
In this course, almost all Chinese words will be written, or at least introduced, in both characters and pnyn. However, please keep in mind that sometimes the sounds of certain pnyn letters are different from the sounds of those same letters in English. For example, the in hnz is pronounced like the r in thunder. For more information on how to read pnyn, see the Pronunciation and Pnyn Guide at the back of your Essential Chinese book, or your Intermediate Chinese or Advanced Chinese books if you purchased Complete Chinese or Platinum Chinese. Ready? Lets get started!
Introduction: Characters and Pnyn

Part 1: Writing
In this first part of the guide, you will get a comprehensive introduction to writing Chinese characters. SIMPLIFIED VS. TRADITIONAL CHARACTERS As you know, this course teaches the simplified form of Chinese characters, which is the standard way of writing Chinese characters in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia. In general, simplified characters were developed by reducing the number of brushstrokes in Traditional Chinese characters, which are mainly used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and other Chinesespeaking communities in Southeast Asia. BRUSHSTROKES Brushstrokes are the different kinds of markings, or strokes, that make up each individual Chinese character. Part 1 is an introduction to the different strokes and the order in which they are put down when writing. Fortunately, there is a limited number of strokes, and a clearly defined order in which to write them. By learning the strokes and the order, you will know how to write almost any Chinese character. Each stroke has a name. These names are not part of the pronunciation of the character itself. Instead, they are used when someone is trying to describe how a character is written. TYPES OF BRUSHSTROKES There are two categories of strokes: basic and turning. Think of basic strokes as ones that only take about one movement of the brush or pen to write, while turning (also known as combined) strokes are ones that require the brush or pen to make one or more turns on the paper.
Lesson 1
Basic Strokes
Each Chinese character is built upon a series of brushstrokes. Traditionally, there have been five strokes that are considered to be fundamental. All of the other strokes can be regarded as variations of these five. Here are the names of those five strokes: 1. hng 2. sh 3. pi 4. din 5. zh Chinese brushstrokes must be written the correct way in order to be legible. This is actually similar to English. In school, youre usually taught to write an English letter in a specific way, with your pen or pencil moving in a certain direction. If you dont, the letter often looks strange and oddly shaped. Well, Chinese works the same way. As a result, you will see arrows within each stroke to indicate the direction in which your pen should move. Now lets look at each stroke and see how its written. 1.
hng
The hng stroke is one horizontal line that goes from left to right. You can find this stroke in the character sn (three).
In fact, as you can see, sn is made up of three hng strokes in a row. Now practice writing the hng stroke a few times by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember to write it from left to right.
2.
sh
The sh stroke goes from top to bottom. You can find this stroke in the character sh (ten).
Notice that sh is made up of a hng stroke and a sh stroke. Now practice writing the sh stroke a few times by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember to go from top to bottom.
Here are some more sample characters that only consist of hng and sh:
gn
one 3.
two
dry
pi
Pi goes from top to bottom left. You can find it in the character qin (thousand).
Notice that pi can be tilted either more horizontally, as it is in , or more vertically, depending on the character. Now lets practice. Trace the stroke in the boxes below, remembering to go from top to bottom.
4.
din
Din is a dot that goes from top left to bottom right or top right to bottom left. You can find it
in the character y (jade).
You can also find it in the character xio (small). In this character, you can actually see two din: one going both top right to bottom left and another going from top left to bottom right.
Lets practice. Remember to write from top left to bottom right, or top right to bottom left.
5.
zh
Zh goes horizontally from left to right, with a downwards left hook at the end. It is sometimes
also known as the hnggu stroke, since it is essentially made up of the horizontal hng stroke plus a gu (hook). You can find the zh/hnggu stroke in the character mi (buy).
Now lets practice. Dont forget to go from left to right, and then at the end, hook to the left.
Exercise
In Chinese, it is very important to know the number of strokes in a character. Characters are often organized by number of strokes, such as in the index of a dictionary.
Can you identify the number of strokes in each of the following characters?
CHARACTER NUMBER OF STROKES
1. qin (thousand) 2. gn (dry) 3. y (jade)

Answer Key: 1. three; 2. three; 3. five
Lesson 2
More Basic Strokes
In this lesson, well look at a few more basic strokes. These strokes are slight variations of the five fundamental strokes you learned in Lesson 1. 1. t 2. shgu 3. sht 4. xigu 5. n Remember that the names of the strokes only exist to identify the strokes. They arent related to the pronunciation of the character itself. Now lets take a closer look at each of the strokes mentioned above.
6.
The t stroke goes from bottom left to top right. Note that the length of the stroke and the degree of the tilt can vary; it can be longer or shorter than whats shown above, and more horizontal. The t stroke appears as part of the character bng (ice).
An example of a longer, more horizontal form of t can be found in the character chng (worm, insect).
Now practice writing the t stroke by tracing the strokes in the boxes below. Dont forget to move your pen from bottom left to top right.
7.
shgu
Shgu is the vertical sh stroke from Lesson 1, plus a gu (hook). In other words, go from top
to bottom and then add an upwards left hook at the end. Since the hook is the only difference between the sh stroke and the shgu stroke, it can make a big difference if you forget to include it. For example, take a look at the characters y (on, in, at, to) and gn (dry).
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gn
Notice that the only difference between y and gn is that contains the shgu stroke while contains the sh stroke.
Just by adding a hook, you change the meaning from on to dry. Here are some other Chinese characters that contain the shgu stroke:
xio
You
son
small
It is also important to note that there is a curved form of the shgu stroke known as the wngu stroke:
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You can see it in the character gu (dog):
Now practice writing the shgu and wngu strokes a few times by tracing the strokes in the boxes below. Dont forget to go from top to bottom and then at the end, hook to the left.
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8.
sht
Sht is the vertical line sh plus the t stroke as a hook at the end. In other words, sht is like shgu, but flipped to the right and with a longer hook. However, the sht stroke appears less
frequently in Chinese characters than the shgu stroke. You can find sht in the character zhng (to grow).
Note that the character can also be pronounced chng, in which case it means long. Now practice writing the sht stroke by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember to move your pen from top to bottom, and then hook to the right at the end.
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9.
xigu
The xigu stroke can be viewed as a slanted version of the sht stroke. Simply start from the top, move diagonally to the lower left, and then finish the stroke with a hook to the right. The xigu stroke can be found in the character g (spear):
Now practice writing the xigu stroke by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember to move your pen diagonally from top left to bottom right, and then hook to the right at the end.
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10.
The n stroke goes from top to bottom right. It is roughly the opposite of the top to bottom left pi stroke from Lesson 1. Like pi, n can be tilted either more horizontally or more vertically depending on the character its forming.
N can be found in the very common character rn (person, people).
You can also find it in the character tin (day, sky).
Note that Chinese characters never contain more than one n stroke. There can be two hng strokes in one character (as in tin), or two pi strokes, but never two n.
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Now practice writing the n stroke by tracing the stroke in the boxes below, going from top to bottom right.
Exercise
Look at the following characters and see if you can identify the strokes we learned in this lesson and Lesson 1. Write down each strokes pnyn name in the blank space provided. If you see more than one type of stroke in a character, make sure to write down the name of each one.
CHARACTER STROKE NAME(S)
1. tin (day, sky) 2. xio (small) 3. rn (person, people) 4. d (big) 5. r (two) 6. qin (thousand)
Answer Key: 1. hng, pi, n; 2. shgu, din; 3. pi, n; 4. hng, pi, n; 5. hng; 6. pi hng, sh
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Lesson 3
Turning Strokes
Turning strokes, or combined strokes, are made up of multiple turns of your pen. These strokes can be regarded as combinations of the basic strokes you learned in the previous lessons, plus some adjustments. However, and this is important, they are still written as one stroke. Here are five of them: 1. hngzhgu 2. hngzh 3. shzh 4. pizh 5. shwngu Lets take a closer look at each stroke. 11.
hngzhgu
Hngzhgu is a common stroke in Chinese writing. It is a combination of the horizontal line hng and the vertical line + hook shgu, but completed in one stroke. So, start by writing
from left to right, then, without lifting your pen from the paper, turn downwards and add an upwards left hook at the end.
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In handwriting, the shgu part is often tilted a bit to the left, but it is also fine to keep it strictly vertical. The joint that connects the horizontal hng part to the vertical shgu part can either be round or a perpendicular turn.
Hngzhgu appears in many complex characters, but for now, well look at a few basic
examples. For example, hngzhgu can be found in the character x (to study).
It can also be found in sho (spoon)
Now practice writing the hngzhgu stroke by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Dont forget to write from left to right, and then go down and add an upwards left hook at the end, all without lifting your pen or pencil from the paper.
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12.
hngzh
The hngzh stroke is simply hngzhgu without the gu (hook). So write from left to right and then go down.
Hngzh can be found the character ku (mouth).
The hngzh stroke is less common than the hngzhgu stroke, and it can be difficult to differentiate the two when they are used to form a square, such as in the character r (sun, day):
So is that stroke hngzh or hngzhgu? Well, this is often a matter of debate. Just keep in mind that, in actual handwriting, either stroke is acceptable if you need to form a square in a character like r.
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Lets look at another example of the hngzh stroke. The character sh (book), shown below, contains both the hngzh and hngzhgu strokes.
Now, practice writing the hngzh stroke a few times by tracing the stroke in the boxes below.
13.
shzh
The shzh stroke is made up of the vertical line sh and the horizontal line hng. So you write from top to bottom and then go right. Depending on the character it is forming, shzh can either be a short vertical line with a long horizontal line, or vice versa. For example, shzh is a short vertical line with a long horizontal line in the character shn (mountain):
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However, in the character dun (to break off), the stroke is a long vertical line with a short horizontal line:
Now practice writing the shzh stroke by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember to draw the vertical line first and then turn right and draw the horizontal line.
14.
pizh
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Pizh is very similar to shzh. The pizh stroke simply replaces the vertical line sh with
the tilted line pi. So go from top to bottom left, then go horizontally to the right.
Pizh can be found in the character dng (east):
It can also be found in the character yn (cloud).
Note that sometimes pizh ends by going diagonally down to the right, rather than going horizontally:
For example, it is written that way in the character n (female, woman):
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Now practice writing both forms of the pizh stroke a few times by tracing the stroke below. Remember to go from top to bottom left, then turn right and go horizontally or diagonally to the right, without lifting your pen or pencil from the paper.
15.
shwngu
The shwngu stroke is also like the shzh stroke, but with a round turn at the bottom left and a hook at the bottom right. In other words, its a combination of the sh stroke, and a
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flipped, horizontal wngu stroke. So, write from top to bottom, make a rounded turn to the right, go horizontally, and then hook upwards. The shwngu stroke can be found in many Chinese characters. For example, you can find it in the character y (already).
You can also find it in the character j (self):
Notice that the only difference between y and j is the size of the opening in the upper left. In other words, the top of the shwngu stroke in y starts closer to the top of the character, making the opening half closed, while the shwngu stroke in j starts further down, leaving the opening completely open. These two characters highlight the importance of paying careful attention to how each Chinese character is written. Practice writing the shwngu stroke a few times by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember to draw a round corner as you turn right and to finish with an upwards hook.
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Exercise
Look at each of the following characters and see if you can identify the stroke weve learned in this lesson. Write down the strokes pnyn name in the blank space provided. Only write down the strokes youve seen in this lesson.
CHARACTER STROKE NAME
1. fng (square) 2. y (tooth) 3. ch (car) 4. b (to hope)

Answer Key: 1. hngzhgu; 2. shzh; 3. pizh; 4. shwngu
Lesson 4
More Turning Strokes
Lets take a look at a few more turning strokes. These are the last strokes that will be introduced in this guide. By the end of this lesson, you will have learned the most commonly used brush strokes in Chinese writing. Here are the turning strokes you will see in this lesson:
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1. hngzhwngu 2. hngzhzhzhgu 3. shzhzhgu 4. hngpiwngu Now lets break down each stroke. 16.
hngzhwngu
Hngzhwngu starts with a version of hngzh, followed by a flipped, horizontal wngu,
which, as you know, is a curved form of the stroke shgu. In other words, it starts with the horizontal line hng and then turns left, makes a wide round turn to the right, continues horizontally to the right, and ends with an upwards hook. Keep in mind that this is all one stroke. In other words, it should be written without lifting your pen or pencil from the paper.
Hngzhwngu can be found in the character y (to remember).
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Now practice writing the hngzhwngu stroke by tracing the stroke in the boxes below. Remember that you should write the entire stroke without lifting your pen or pencil from the paper.
17.
hngzhzhzhgu
As you can probably tell, hngzhzhzhgu is one of the more complex strokes. It is essentially a combination of hngzh and hngzhgu, but written as one stroke. So start with the horizontal line hng and then go down, turn to the right and continue horizontally, then turn downwards and add an upwards left hook at the end. Dont be intimidated by the long name of the stroke. The names of the strokes are not that important; just try to remember the shape of the stroke and the direction of your pen, and understand that its written as one stroke. One of the simplest characters that contains the hngzhzhzhgu stroke is rng (still).
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Now practice writing hngzhzhzhgu by tracing the stroke in the boxes below.
18. shzhzhgu
Shzhzhgu is used quite frequently. It starts with the sh stroke, and then finishes off with
the hngzhgu stroke.

Shzhzhgu can be found in the character gng (bow as in bow and arrow).
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Now practice writing shzhzhgu by tracing the stroke in the boxes below.
19.
hngpiwngu
Hngpiwngu is the formal name for the stroke, but people usually refer to it as gur, or
the ear-shaped stroke. It starts with a shortened version of the hngpi stroke, which is a combination of the strokes hng and pi:
Its then followed by the wngu stroke. So, in other words, start with a short horizontal hng and then go down diagonally to the left, turn slightly to the right, go down diagonally to the right, and then add an upwards left hook at the end.
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Notice that hngpiwngu resembles the shape of the number 3or an ear, of course. The hngpiwngu stroke always has a sh stroke on its left side, as demonstrated in the character du (team).
Now, practice writing the hngpiwngu stroke a few times by tracing the stroke in the boxes below.
Exercise
Look at each of the following characters and see if you can identify the stroke weve learned in this lesson. Write down the strokes pnyn name in the blank space provided. Only write down the strokes youve seen in this lesson.
CHARACTER STROKE NAME
1. yng (sun) 2. ku (deficit) 3. y (hundred million) 4. ni (therefore)

Answer Key 1. hngpiwngu; 2. shzhzhgu; 3. hngzhwngu; 4. hngzhzhzhgu
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Lesson 5
Stroke Order
Now that youve learned about strokes, lets take a look at how to use strokes to write an entire character. Each Chinese character may contain anywhere from one to more than 30 strokes, and a certain order has to be followed in writing those strokes. Incorrectly ordered strokes can produce illegible or even incorrect characters. Keeping that in mind, here are the general guidelines for stroke order when writing Chinese characters. There are exceptions, but these rules will allow you to write most Chinese characters. Here are the rules for stroke order that you will see in this lesson: 1. Top to bottom 2. Left to right 3. Center before wings 4. Horizontal before intersecting vertical 5. Right-to-left diagonals before intersecting left-to-right diagonals 6. Enclosures before contents 7. Din and other minor strokes last Now lets look at each rule in detail. 20. TOP TO BOTTOM In other words, you should always write the top stroke of a character first, and then move down from there.
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For example, lets take a look at how to write the character sn (three). is made up of three hng strokes of varying lengths, with the shortest one in the middle. (If you need to review the hng stroke, see Lesson 1.)
As you can see, when writing , you start with the hng stroke at the top, then draw the one in the middle, and the one at the bottom comes last. Of course, is a very straightforward example. The top to bottom rule also applies to much more complex characters that have a top-down vertical structure. Now practice writing by tracing the character in the box below. Remember to write from top to bottom.
21. LEFT TO RIgHT For most characters that have a left-to-right structure, you start from the left side, and then move on to the right side. Take a look at how the character b (eight) is written:
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has two strokes: a pi and a n. Remember that pi goes from top to bottom left (Lesson 1), and n goes from top to bottom right (Lesson 2). Notice that in the character , the pi on the
left is written first, followed by the n on the right. Now lets practice. Trace the character in the box below, remembering to go from left to right.
22. CENTER BEFORE wINgS Here is how to write the character xio (small):
As you can see, to write , you start with the shgu stroke in the middle, and then draw the din stroke on the left and then the right.
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In other words, with any vertically symmetrical character (like ), the correct order would be to start with the component at the center, then write the component on the left and then the component on the right (following the left to right rule). Now practice writing by tracing the character in the box below. Remember to draw the center before the wings, and then write from left to right.
23. HORIzONTAL BEFORE INTERSECTINg VERTICAL In general, a horizontal stroke precedes an intersecting vertical stroke. For example, lets look at how to write the character sh (ten). It has a simple structure: one hng stroke and one sh stroke.
So the horizontal stroke (hng) is written before the intersecting vertical stroke (sh). Now practice writing by tracing the character in the box below. Remember to draw the hng stroke before the sh stroke.
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24. RIgHT-TO-LEFT DIAgONALS BEFORE INTERSECTINg LEFT-TORIgHT DIAgONALS For instance, you would write a pi stroke before an intersecting n stroke. Again, remember that pi is a diagonal stroke that goes from top to bottom left (Lesson 1), and n is a diagonal stroke that goes from top to bottom right (Lesson 2). Lets look at an example. Here is how you write the character wn (language):
So, to write , you start at the top with a din stroke and then a hng stroke (top to bottom rule), and next you write a pi stroke and then intersect it with a n stroke, following the intersecting diagonals rule that you just learned. However, there are exceptions. Generally, if the character is considered to be asymmetrical, or if one intersecting stroke is significantly longer than the other, then the order is reversed. For example, in the character g (spear), the xigu stroke (see the second box below) is written first, followed by the pi stroke (see the third box below).
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Lets practice the intersecting diagonals rule, as well as the exception. Trace the characters in the boxes below, making sure to write the strokes in the correct order.
25. ENCLOSURES BEFORE CONTENTS In other words, if a character has inside components that are enclosed by outside components, you would write the outside before the inside. However, you dont close the outer enclosure until the inside components have been completed. That might sound a bit confusing, so lets look at an example. Take a look at how to write the character hu (to return):
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As you can see, you write most of the outer square before starting to write the inside square. And the final hng stroke, which closes the outside square, is written last, once the inside square has been completed. (Also notice that both squares are written from left to right and top to bottom.) A similar example would be tin (field, farm).
Notice that the inside component of this character also provides a good example of the horizontal before intersecting vertical rule. Even if the outside component is not closed, as in the character tng (similar), you would still write the outside components first.
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Now lets practice the enclosure rule. Trace the characters in the boxes below, making sure to use the correct stroke order. 26.
din AND OTHER MINOR STROKES LAST

Usually, the din stroke (Lesson 1) and other minor strokes are written last. Minor strokes might include very short hng strokes. Lets look at an example: y (jade).
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You can actually see several different rules in this character: top to bottom, horizontal before intersecting vertical and finally, din last. Note that if the din or another minor stroke is inside an enclosure, din is written second to last and the final stroke of the enclosure is written last. Now lets practice:
Exercise
In the boxes below, fill in the strokes in the correct order. Make sure to write each stroke correctly, following what you learned in Lessons 1-4. For example, if you saw:
You would write:
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(Of course, the arrows are simply indicating the direction in which the stroke should be written; you dont actually have to write the arrows when you do the exercise.) If you need to, first go back and review the strokes you learned in Lessons 1-4. Ready? 1. rn (person, people)
2. r (two)
3. gn (dry)
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4. ku (mouth)
5. r (sun, day)
6. tin (day, sky)
7. sho (spoon)
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8. shu (water)
9. yu (month)
10. gu (country)
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Answer Key:
1. rn (person, people)
2. r (two)
3. gn (dry)
4. ku (mouth)
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5. r (sun, day)
6. tin (day, sky)
7. sho (spoon)
8. shu (water)
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9. yu (month)
10. gu (country)
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Part 2: Reading
Now that youve learned how to write characters, lets move on to learning how to read characters. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS AND WORD UNITS As you know, written Chinese is made up of a system of characters rather than an alphabet. Each syllable in the pnyn system represents one Chinese character. (See the Introduction for an overview of pnyn.) For example, qin is a syllable in pnyn. It represents one character and means lead. B is also a syllable, also representing one character, that refers to a general writing implement. Together, they form the word unit qinb (pencil) which is a word that is therefore made up of two characters. In Chinese, z means characterit refers to the individual characters in written Chinese. C means word, it refers to word units made up of two or more characters. Although individual characters/ syllables such as qin can and often do stand alone as individual words, modern Chinese is also comprised of many word units like qinb. Therefore, many words that you learn in this guide and in the course as a whole will be made up of multiple syllables, and thus, multiple individual characters. SPACING When you read written Chinese characters, you will most likely notice that there are no spaces in the text, until you get to a comma or a period. For example:
, ,
As you can see, there are no spaces between the characters above, except after punctuation. Note, however, that classical Chinese texts are not even punctuated.
Lesson 6
Introduction to Radicals
Although Chinese characters might look pretty complex at first, they are actually made up of parts called radicals. Radicals can help you to decipher the meaning of a character. They also organize characters into specific groups, which can help you to remember more characters faster and look up characters in a Chinese dictionary. There are 214 radicals in the current writing system, but only some of them are commonly used. In Part 2, well take an in-depth look at some of the most common radicals and how to use them to identify characters. Here are the radicals that we will cover:
RADICAL PNyN NAmE LITERAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION
shung rn png n z png ku z png m z png rdu png t shu png z z png
dn rn png
single person radical double person radical female radical mouth radical eye radical ear radical hand radical foot radical
RADICAL
PNyN NAmE
LITERAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION
zu zh png/d
/ yu z png shn z png/tu / sn din shu co z tu t z png

r z png
walking radical sun radical moon radical mountain radical three drops of water grass radical earth/soil radical
For a complete list of radicals, see the back of the guide. Now, before we examine individual radicals, lets talk more about how radicals work. 1. Each character contains one radical. In addition to a radical, a character may contain other components, such as phonetic components that help indicate pronunciation. Since each character only has one radical, a component can be a radical in one character but a phonetic component in another character. For instance, is a radical. However, in the character h (and, with, harmony), its a phonetic component. The radical is . 2. Some radicals indicate the meaning of the character. However, it is important to keep in mind that the radical may not indicate anything about the character at all, or at least not in an obvious way. A character may contain the water radical, for example, because that word originally came from the name of a river, even if the word has nothing to do with the river now.
3. All Chinese characters are organized into groups based on their radicals. As a result, you actually use radicals to look up a character in a Chinese dictionary. Basically, radicals serve as a sort of indexing system. In other words, there is usually a radical index at the beginning of a Chinese dictionary. To look up a character, find the characters radical in the first part of the index. The radicals are listed in order by number of strokes. So the simplest, one-stroke radicals are at the beginning, followed by more complex radicals, some of which may take more than twelve strokes to write. Once you find the radical, you will see a page number directing you to the second part of the index which lists all of the characters that contain that radical and where they can be found in the dictionary. 4. Essentially, there are two types of radicals. First, there are radicals that can be both parts of characters and stand alone as full characters. One example of this type of radical is , known as the r z png radical.
As a standalone character, means sun or day and is pronounced r. However, it can also be found in many characters as a radical, such as in chn (spring).
Second, there are radicals that can never stand on their own; they can only serve as components of characters. One example of this type of radical is, known as the t shu png radical. It can be found in the character d (to hit):
Radicals of this type are often derived from a character. For example,is derived from the character shu (hand).
Lesson 7
Radicals: People
In this lesson, we will look at three common radicals that are related to people.
shung rn png n z png

dn rn png
single person radical double person radical female radical
Now lets look at each one more in-depth.
1.
dn rn png
The radical has two strokes: a pi and a sh. It is derived from the character rn (person, people), but it cannot be used as a standalone character. The name dn rn png literally means single person radical. As a result, it is often found in many characters whose meaning has something to do with people. For example:
zh
xi
shn
you (singular, informal)
he, him
to live in
to rest
what
In many cases, you can find certain logical connections between the radical and non-radical components of a character, and this can help you figure out the meaning of the character as a whole. For example, in the character xi (to rest), the non-radical part m means wood or tree. So, the character indicates a person leaning against a tree, thereby resting. Note that shn (what) is often combined with the character me, which indicates a question, to form the common question word shnme (what).
2.
shung rn png
The radical has just one more stroke than the radical, and its name shung rn png literally means double person radical. It can be a standalone character, but it is rarely used as one. As a standalone character, it is pronounced ch and means to step with the left foot. Characters containing are often loosely related to walking or people in the collective sense, but not always:
ji
xng
Street
to walk
to obtain
morality
The character ji (street) contains t, which means soil or earth. So, people walking on earth means street. Notice that the characters d (to obtain) and d (morality) have exactly the same pronunciation. This is similar to words like four and for in English, which are pronounced the same but have different meanings. As in English, they are usually easy to distinguish in context. 3.
n z png
can be used as both a radical and a standalone character. As a standalone character, it means woman or female and is pronounced n. Consequently, as a radical, is often found in characters
relating to women. Note that when used as a radical, the hng stroke of only goes halfway through and stops at the pi stroke:
Here are some characters that contain the radical:
ho
she, her
good
mom
The character for good, ho, is actually a combination of n (female, woman) and z (child). So good is a woman and child together. Note that the character m (mom) contains the phonetic component m (horse).
Exercise
Match the characters on the left to the correct English translations on the right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. a. mom b. good d. street e. to live in f. you (singular, informal)
Answer Key: 1. b; 2. f; 3. a; 4. d; 5. e
Lesson 8
Radicals: Body Parts 1
Now lets look at radicals that are related to the human body:

4.
m z png rdu png

ku z png
mouth radical eye radical ear radical
ku z png
is used as both a radical and a standalone character. As a standalone character, it is

pronounced ku and means mouth. Notice that it actually looks like an open mouth. Here are some examples that use the radical :
ch
tng
ho
to eat
to listen
to inhale
number, date
and, with, harmony
The character h (and, with, harmony) is composed of the character for grain, h, and the mouth radical, suggesting that harmony is attained when people have enough grain to eat. The character h also helps indicate pronunciation. 5.
m z png
is both a radical and a standalone character. The standalone character, pronounced m, is mainly used in formal or classical writings to mean eye.
Most characters that contain the radical are related to eyes or the act of looking. Here are some examples of characters that contain :
kn
dng
shu
mng
yn
jng
to look at
to stare at
to sleep
blind
eye
eye
As you can see, the characters above are all closely related to the eyes. In the character shu (to sleep), the non-radical part, chu, means to droop, so letting the eyes droop means to sleep. In the character mng (blind), the top part, wng, means to die, so if the eyes die, the person is blind. Note that the characters yn and jng are mostly used together as a word unit to mean eye: ynjng. Also note that the characters mng and m can be used together to form the word mngm, which means aimless.
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6.
rdu png
The name of the radical literally means ear radical, and the shape of the right portion of it does look like a human ear. Note that is not a standalone character. The full character for ear is r.
can be used on either the left or right side of a character. Here are some examples:
yng
yn
du
sun, sunshine, masculine moon, cloudy, dark, female
line, queue, team
to attach
ln
n/n
chn
neighbor
that/how, which
to prevent
a family name, to exhibit, to explain
For the character yng (sun, sunshine), imagine the r (sun) hanging over someones ear, and that means sunshine. Similarly, for the character yn (moon, cloudy, dark), imagine a yu (moon) hanging over someones ear, and that means dark or cloudy. Also, you may be familiar with the Chinese philosophical term yin-yang. In characters, that term is written as . In other words, sun and moon, or sunshine and cloudy, or masculine and feminine. Note that the character chn is one of the most common family names in China.
11
Exercise
Match the characters on the left to the correct English translations on the right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Answer Key: 1. d; 2. e; 3. b; 4. a; 5. c
a. and, harmony b. to explain c. to look at d. to eat e. to sleep
Lesson 9
Radicals: Body Parts 2
Lets look at a few more radicals related to the human body.
z z png zu zh png/d /
t shu png
hand radical foot radical walking radical
7.
t shu png
12
As you saw in Lesson 6, the radical is derived from the character shu (hand). It cannot stand alone, but it can be found as a component of a lot of Chinese characters. Below are some examples:
so
rng
bo
kng
to hit
to sweep
throw
to hold
to report, newspaper
to fight, to resist
As you can see, all of the characters with a radical can be used as verbs. Note that the characters d and so can be used together to form the phrase dso, which still means to sweep. It depends on context whether you use or simply ; they are sometimes interchangeable. 8. z z png
The radical is also a standalone character meaning foot. When used as a standalone character, it is pronounced z. And when used as a radical, it changes slightly in form:
13
Now here are some examples of used as a radical:
po
tio
to run
jump
kick
road
As you can see, the characters above all relate either to actions of the feet or what the feet stand on. 9.
zu zh png/d /
The radical is not a standalone character. The name zu zh png literally means the walking radical, as it is derived from the character and also looks like something that is walking or zigzagging. The character means zigzag, winding, or S-shaped road, but it is more often used to indicate possession, like the s in English. Notice that the printed style of the radical, or , looks a little different from the handwritten style shown in the boxes above. When printed, the second stroke is a sh stroke, but in handwriting, its a hngzhzhpi stroke. The difference simply has to do with font styles, but when writing, you should always follow the handwritten style.
14
Here are some examples of characters that contain the radical:
zhu
tu
to
jn
yun
to chase
to retreat
to escape
to reach
near
far
ch
zh
sng
jn
xn
late
this, here
to send
to enter
rapid
quick
As you can see from their English translations, most of the characters above are more or less related to walking or other actions of the feet, with the exception of zh (this), which is the opposite of the character n (that) that you saw in the previous lesson. Also, the other component is always sitting on top of the pi stroke. Note that and are often used together to form the word xns, which means quickly or rapidly.
Exercise
Match the characters on the left to the correct English translations on the right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Answer Key: 1. d; 2. a; 3. c; 4. e; 5. b
a. to hit b. far c. near d. road e. this
15
Lesson 10
Radicals: Nature 1
In this lesson, were going to look at a few radicals related to nature:
yu z png shn z png/to /

r z png
sun radical moon radical mountain radical
10.
r z png
As you know from Lesson 6, can be used as both a radical and a standalone character, in which case it means sun or day and is pronounced r. Most characters that contain as a radical are related to time or weather. Since the sun is also associated with prosperity in Chinese culture, characters related to that theme often contain as well.
zo
chn
sh
ji
zu
early, morning
dawn
time
old (not new), past yesterday
16

chn
hn
sh
xng
wng
spring
drought
yes, to be
star
prosperous
In the character hn, the sun on top of gn (dry) indicates drought. In the character wng (prosperous), a wng (king) stands next to the sun, indicating prosperity. Note that the characters zo (early, morning) and chn (dawn) can be used together to form the word unit zochn (early morning). Also, when you greet someone, you can use zo by itself to say Morning! Finally, make sure to remember the character sh, which means both yes and the verb to be. As you can probably imagine, its a very useful character to know! 11. yu z png
The radical can also be used as a standalone character, in which case it is pronounced yu and means moon or month. Lets take a look at some examples of the radical .
png
lin
no
png
yu
friend
face
brain
fat
belly
to have, there is/there are
17
Although means moon, when used as a radical, it is mostly found in characters that are related to the human body, as you can see from the above examples. Notice that png simply contains two . So, essentially, two moons together means friend. Also note that to say friend in Chinese, png is often combined with the character yu, which also means friend: pngyu (friend). Like sh, yu is a very good character to remember. Its one of the most frequently used characters in Chinese. 12.
shn z png/to /
is both a radical and a standalone character. As a standalone character, means mountain and is pronounced shn. Notice that the shape of also helpfully resembles mountains.
The radical can be found in the following characters:
su
do
ch
fng
age, year
island
bank, shore
to leave
peak, summit
The character fng can be used with the standalone character to form the word unit shnfng (mountain peak). The character su (age, year) is composed of and x (evening, sunset). In other words, when the sun sets into the remote mountains, a year has passed and you are one year older in age.
18
The character for island, do, is composed of nio (bird) and . So, birds standing on a mountain means island.
Exercise
A. Match the characters on the left to the correct English translations on the right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. a. morning b. to have c. to be d. friend e. age
B. Now lets review some of the characters you saw in previous lessons. Translate the following characters into English. 1.
____________________________ ___________________________
2.
3. ____________________________ 4. ____________________________ 5. ____________________________

Answer Key: A. 1. c; 2. e; 3. b; 4. a; 5. d B. 1. road; 2. far; 3. to eat; 4. you; 5. good
19
Lesson 11
Radicals: Nature 2
In this lesson, we will continue to look at radicals that are related to nature:

13.
co z tu t z png
sn din shu
three drops of water grass radical earth/soil radical
sn din shu
The name of the radical, sn din shu, literally means three drops of water, and most of the characters that contain the radical are related to water. Note that is not a standalone character. The standalone character for water is shu. You may have noticed that there is a difference in the radicals third stroke between the printed style and the handwritten style shown in the boxes above. As with the radical that you learned in Lesson 9, its simply a font style. When you write the radical, make sure to follow the handwritten style. Here are some examples using the radical :
20
hn
hn
zh
jing
sweat
Chinese, Han
juice
large river
river
stain, dirt
chn
jn
yu
hu
li
to sink
to soak
to wash
oil
to live
tears
For the character li, water in the eye means tears. For the character hu, water on the sh (tongue) means that you live. The character hn (sweat) is composed of and gn (dry). In other words, you sweat when its too dry out. The word hn comes from the Han imperial dynasty of China, which ruled in China about two thousand years ago and got its name from the Han River, a branch of the Yangtze River (hence the use of the water radical). Most people in China belong to the Han ethnic group, and one word for the Chinese language is hny, or literally, the language of the Han people. The characters chn (to sink) and jn (to soak) can be used together to form the word unit chnjn, which means to immerse or to be absorbed in something. 14. co z tu
Like , cannot be used as a standalone character.
21
Characters that use the radical are usually related to grass or plants in some way. For example, take a look at the following characters that contain :
co
hu
ji
grass
flower
festival, node
bud
yo
ci
ln
medicine
vegetables, dish
blue
art, handicraft
As you can see, most of the examples above are related to grass or plants. In the case of the character yo (medicine), the radical simply testifies to the fact that traditional Chinese medicines are mostly derived from plants. Also, it may seem as if the meaning of the character ln (blue) has little to do with plants, but originally, referred to the dark blue color of a plant that was used for dyeing clothes in ancient China. The Traditional form of the Simplified character y (art, handicraft) features two m (wood, tree, plant) components and another component that means holding with hand. As a result, the character indicates holding a piece of wood, meaning handicraft or art. Note that the character originally meant the node of a plant stem, but it is often used with the character r (sun, day) to refer to festivals: jir (festival). Also note that the character ci (vegetables, dish) contains the character ci (to pick). ci depicts azho (hand) picking off of a m (tree, plant).
22
15.
t z png
The radical can also be used as a standalone character. As a standalone character, it is pronounced t and means earth, land, or dirt. As a radical, it is mostly contained in characters that indicate location, space, or things that are considered worthless. For example:
zi
kng
ground, land
at, in, on
garbage
garbage
pit
hui
jn
zu
jin
chng
bad, spoiled
equal, average
to sit
strong, solid
open space, field
The character zi (at, in, on) is one of the most frequently used characters in Chinese. It is usually followed by words or phrases that indicate a location. The characters l and j are almost always used together ( lj) to mean garbage or something worthless. Finally, notice that the character zu (to sit) is made up of two rn (people) sitting on the
(earth), thus its meaning: to sit.
23
Exercise
A. Match the characters on the left to the correct English translations on the right. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. a. to wash b. festival c. at, in, on d. Chinese e. vegetables
B. Now lets practice what you learned in previous lessons. Identify the radical in each of the following characters and write it in the box provided. 1. zh (to live in, to reside)
2. ho (number, date)
3. d (to hit)
24
4. su (age, year)
Answer Key:
A. 1. e; 2. d; 3. b; 4. a; 5. c B. 1. zh (to live in, to reside)
2. ho (number, date)
25
3. d (to hit)
4. su (age, year)
Lesson 12
Practice
Welcome to the final lesson of the guide! Now that youve learned some of the most common radicals in Chinese, and been introduced to lots of new characters, lets take a look at a few simple sentences using the characters that youve learned. Here are some additional characters and word units that you will see in the sentences below:
Zhnggu
qng
nxi
ma
de
26
China
please
those
indicates that the sentence is a question
sometimes used after adjectives
1. ?
N ho ma?
How are you? (lit., You are good?) 2.

T ch shnme?
What is she eating? (lit., She eats what?) 3.

N yu go zh h shu.
You have juice and water. 4.

T zh zi Zhnggu.
He lives in China. 5. !
Kn nxi hu!
Look at those flowers! 6.

Nxi hu sh ln de.
Those flowers are blue. 7.

Qng zu!
Please sit!
27
8.
N sh shnme?
What is that? (lit., That is what?) 9.

N sh ji.
That is the street. Youve reached the end of the Complete Guide to Chinese Characters! Congratulations! However, dont forget to practice as much as possible. That is the only way to become comfortable with strokes and familiarize yourself with deconstructing and identifying characters. Practice writing individual strokes and then entire characters on your own. Review radicals, and try to identify characters on Chinese-language websites, newspapers, menus, and anywhere else you can find them. Good luck!
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Living Language: Complete Guide To Chinese Characters

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Living Language: Complete Guide To Chinese Characters

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Complete Guide to Chinese Characters

Copyright 2012 by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc. www.livinglanguage.com

Introduction: Characters and Pnyn 6

LESSON 1 Basic Strokes LESSON 3 Turning Strokes LESSON 5 Stroke Order

LESSON 2 More Basic Strokes

LESSON 4 More Turning Strokes

LESSON 6 Introduction to Radicals

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LESSON 7 Radicals: People

LESSON 9 Radicals: Body Parts 2

LESSON 11 Radicals: Nature 2

LESSON 8 Radicals: Body Parts 1

LESSON 10 Radicals: Nature 1

Introduction: Characters and Pnyn

Complete Guide to Chinese Characters

Introduction: Characters and Pnyn

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in the character y (jade).

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1. qin (thousand) 2. gn (dry) 3. y (jade)

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You can see it in the character gu (dog):

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You can also find it in the character tin (day, sky).

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It can also be found in sho (spoon)

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It can also be found in the character yn (cloud).

For example, it is written that way in the character n (female, woman):

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You can also find it in the character j (self):

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1. fng (square) 2. y (tooth) 3. ch (car) 4. b (to hope)

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Hngzhwngu starts with a version of hngzh, followed by a flipped, horizontal wngu,

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the hngzhgu stroke.

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1. yng (sun) 2. ku (deficit) 3. y (hundred million) 4. ni (therefore)

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3. 4. 5.