Chinese characters contain 'building blocks' called Radicals. They often help us to understand the meaning or pronunciation of a character.

Through learning radicals will help you understand how characters are built up from smaller parts and are not the scary, complicated structures, you once thought.

Each of the 214 Chinese Radicals shown featured the following information:

• Radical number The official Kangxi radical number from 1 to 214

• The primary for of the radical

• The variations of the radical

• Pinyin pronunciation using Hanyu Pinyin - The official romanization system for Chinese in China and much of the world

• Zhuyin pronunciatiopn (BoPoMoFo) - The phonetic system used in Taiwan

• An English keyword that describes the meaning of this radical

• Example characters showing the radical in use

Also, if a radical was simplified then we show both original radical form and the Simplified versions! You can focus on what's important to you, or widen your knowledge of Chinese characters even further.