Radical (Chinese character)
Encyclopedia
A Chinese
radical (from the Latin
radix
, meaning "root") is a component of a Chinese character
. The term may variously refer to the original semantic (meaning-bearing) element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose. The term is commonly used to describe the element under which a character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary, which is often semantic but may sometimes be a phonetic or merely artificially extracted portion of the character. When used in this way as dictionary section headers
, radicals form the basis of an indexing system that has classified Chinese characters throughout the ages, from ancient Shuōwén Jiézì characters to their modern successors.
In some cases a combination of the rules was used although the difference between the traditional and simplified version of the same character can lie solely in the visual appearance of the radical. One example is the character for "language"; the traditional character is 語, whilst in the simplified 语 only the radical is altered.
Russian language literature, as well as Russian-influenced literature, uses the word ключ (meaning key). Cf. the usage of the English-language term key in phrases like search key, sort key, index key.
radix, meaning "root". As Wieger (1927, p. 14) explains:
For example, 采 cǎi ‘to pick, pluck’ is an associative compound comprising two elements or components, a hand 爫 (zhǎo or zhuǎ) picking items from a tree 木 (mù); that is, it is originally a two-part graph. Later, a redundant hand 扌 (shǒu) element was added in the traditional form of the graph to form the character 採 (the simplified version used in the PRC
then dropped this extra element). The compound then comprised a later-added semantic determinative, 扌, plus what is now often termed an etymon (the original part, or ‘root’), 采. According to the coinage of radical based on ‘root’, the etymonic 采 portion would be the radical, colored in red in the picture to the above right, though in dictionaries the character is actually classified under the left-hand element 扌.
Those who focus on the root meaning of radical (that is, those who equate radical with root and etymon) criticize other uses of the term radical. However, even critics of other uses of the term radical will generally avoid the usage of it in the "semantic root" sense due to the confusion over the term, instead calling such original graphs the original form, or etymon. One reason for avoiding this usage is that people may generally now refer to some other part of a character as the radical (e.g., 扌rather than 采 in the above example), based on the use of "radical" to mean "any semantic element" or the section header
under which the character appears in a Chinese dictionary, as described below.
This is de facto the prevailing usage of the term radical today. However, some object to the term, because of confusion due to the other uses of the term radical, meaning root and semantic component, as well as because most (but not all) section headers do happen to play a semantic role in the characters listed under them. As a result, many are misled into thinking that the section headers are by definition either semantic roots or semantic components in those characters. This is definitely not correct. There are numerous instances of characters listed under section headers which are merely artificial extractions of portions of those characters, and some of these portions are not even actual graphs with an independent existence (e.g., 亅 jué or juě in 了 liǎo), as explained by Serruys (1984), who therefore prefers the term ‘glyph’ extraction rather than graphic extraction (p. 657). This is even truer of modern dictionaries, which reduce the number of section headers to less than half the number in Shuōwén, at which point it becomes impossible to have enough section headers to cover semantic elements in every character. In the Far Eastern Chinese English Dictionary for instance, 一 is a mere artificial extraction of a stroke from most of its subentries such as 丁 dīng and 且 qǐe; the same is true of 乙 yǐ in 九 jiǔ; 亅 jué or juě in 了 liǎo, le; 二 èr in 亞 yà and yǎ; 田 tián in 禺 yù; 豕 shǐ in 象 xiàng ‘elephant’, and so on. There are also instances of section headers which play a phonetic and not a semantic role in those characters, such as 臼 jiù ‘a mortar’ in 舅 jiù ‘maternal uncle’ (Shuōwén lists this under its semantic 男 nán, ‘male’, but modern dictionaries, with only 200-odd section headers, simply do not have enough to cover a semantic for every character) and 舊 jiù ‘owl; old’ (listed in the Far East on p. 1141 under the header 臼); 虎 hǔ ‘tiger’ in 虖 hū ‘shout’; 鬼 guǐ (originally ‘helmet’), now ‘ghost’, in 魁 kúi, ‘leader’; 鹿 lù ‘deer’ in 麓 lù, foothills; 麻 má ‘hemp’ in 麼 ma, mó ‘tiny’; 黃 huáng ‘yellow’ in 黌 hóng ‘a school’; 羽 yǔ ‘feather’ in 翌 yì ‘next’ (Qiú 2000, p. 7); 齊 qí in 齎 jī ‘to present’; 青 qīng in 靖 jìng ‘peaceful’, 靚 jìng ‘to ornament; quiet’; and 靜 jìng ‘quiet’, and so on. In other words, although most section headers happen to play a semantic role in the characters listed under them, they are not fundamentally semantic, but rather, are somewhat arbitrarily chosen classifiers used to group characters for lexicographic convenience. As Professor Jerry Norman (1988) writes (referring to semantic elements as “significs”):
Professor Woon Wee Lee (1987) also explains:
is formed by radical with example.
chieh-tzu 說文解字", in 中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊 Zhōngyāng Yánjiūyuàn Lìshǐ Yǔyán Yánjiūsuǒ Jíkān, v.55:4, pp. 651–754.
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
radical (from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
radix
Radix
In mathematical numeral systems, the base or radix for the simplest case is the number of unique digits, including zero, that a positional numeral system uses to represent numbers. For example, for the decimal system the radix is ten, because it uses the ten digits from 0 through 9.In any numeral...
, meaning "root") is a component of a Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
. The term may variously refer to the original semantic (meaning-bearing) element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose. The term is commonly used to describe the element under which a character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary, which is often semantic but may sometimes be a phonetic or merely artificially extracted portion of the character. When used in this way as dictionary section headers
Section headers of a Chinese dictionary
Section headers , also known as index keys or classifiers, are graphic portions of Chinese characters which are used for organizing entries in Chinese dictionaries into sections which all share the same graphic part...
, radicals form the basis of an indexing system that has classified Chinese characters throughout the ages, from ancient Shuōwén Jiézì characters to their modern successors.
Simplified vs. Traditional
In an effort to make learning Chinese easier and boost literacy rates, in 1956 and again in 1964 the People's Republic of China released a list of "simplified" Chinese characters which contain fewer strokes than their traditional equivalents. Although simplification of Chinese characters has occurred since the advent of Chinese script, this was the most intensive effort undertaken in modern times. In most cases radicals were simplified according to two basic rules:- Several lines and/or dots became one line
- The traditional character or radical was replaced by a small, unique portion thereof
In some cases a combination of the rules was used although the difference between the traditional and simplified version of the same character can lie solely in the visual appearance of the radical. One example is the character for "language"; the traditional character is 語, whilst in the simplified 语 only the radical is altered.
Ambiguity of meaning
Some academics have criticised the usage of the word radical because of its supposed ambiguity. At one time radical referred to the semantic component of a Chinese character, because most (but not all) dictionary section headers are closely linked with the meaning of the characters listed under them. There is a widespread perception that the character elements used as section headers are always, by definition, semantic in their role, but this is not always the case. For example, 木 ("tree"), a common character element with semantic purpose in many characters, is actually phonetic in the character 沐 ("bathe", "wash"), and the character's meaning-bearing radical is the left-hand element, 氵, "water". Another common misunderstanding is that radical means any component of a character. But this is inconsistent with all of its various historical uses.Russian language literature, as well as Russian-influenced literature, uses the word ключ (meaning key). Cf. the usage of the English-language term key in phrases like search key, sort key, index key.
Usage
This section discusses various historical and current uses of the term radical.Semantic roots
The word radical is coined with the meaning "semantic root" (original portion, bearing meaning), from LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
radix, meaning "root". As Wieger (1927, p. 14) explains:
For example, 采 cǎi ‘to pick, pluck’ is an associative compound comprising two elements or components, a hand 爫 (zhǎo or zhuǎ) picking items from a tree 木 (mù); that is, it is originally a two-part graph. Later, a redundant hand 扌 (shǒu) element was added in the traditional form of the graph to form the character 採 (the simplified version used in the PRC
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
then dropped this extra element). The compound then comprised a later-added semantic determinative, 扌, plus what is now often termed an etymon (the original part, or ‘root’), 采. According to the coinage of radical based on ‘root’, the etymonic 采 portion would be the radical, colored in red in the picture to the above right, though in dictionaries the character is actually classified under the left-hand element 扌.
Those who focus on the root meaning of radical (that is, those who equate radical with root and etymon) criticize other uses of the term radical. However, even critics of other uses of the term radical will generally avoid the usage of it in the "semantic root" sense due to the confusion over the term, instead calling such original graphs the original form, or etymon. One reason for avoiding this usage is that people may generally now refer to some other part of a character as the radical (e.g., 扌rather than 采 in the above example), based on the use of "radical" to mean "any semantic element" or the section header
Section headers of a Chinese dictionary
Section headers , also known as index keys or classifiers, are graphic portions of Chinese characters which are used for organizing entries in Chinese dictionaries into sections which all share the same graphic part...
under which the character appears in a Chinese dictionary, as described below.
Semantic elements
Since the radical of a European word is not only its root but also the portion bearing the core of its meaning, some have applied the term radical not to the original root of a character, such as the 采 in the above example, but to any portion bearing meaning. Ramsey (1987, pp. 136–137) uses the term radical this way, clearly equating any “meaning determinant” with “radical”. Wieger (e.g., p. 14-15) also used the term radical this way, for the “formal element which gives meaning” and divided components into radicals and phonetics depending on their usage in particular characters; e.g., he interpreted 木 mù ‘tree’ as radical in 柏 bó ‘cypress’, but as phonetic in 沐 mù ‘to bathe’. In neither character is there an original root portion, as both characters were created as is, as phonetic-semantic compounds. Note that to avoid confusion with meaning #3 below, this meaning of “any portion bearing meaning rather than purely sound” is now generally termed a semantic component or element, a determinative, or a signific.Section headers of a Chinese dictionary
The term radical may also be applied to the graphic portion of a character (regardless of its role—phonetic, semantic, both, or none—in that character) under which it is listed in the dictionary, known in Chinese as 部首 bùshǒu (Japanese bushu, Korean busu). Section headers is the literal translation, but these are also known as dictionary classifiers or index keys.This is de facto the prevailing usage of the term radical today. However, some object to the term, because of confusion due to the other uses of the term radical, meaning root and semantic component, as well as because most (but not all) section headers do happen to play a semantic role in the characters listed under them. As a result, many are misled into thinking that the section headers are by definition either semantic roots or semantic components in those characters. This is definitely not correct. There are numerous instances of characters listed under section headers which are merely artificial extractions of portions of those characters, and some of these portions are not even actual graphs with an independent existence (e.g., 亅 jué or juě in 了 liǎo), as explained by Serruys (1984), who therefore prefers the term ‘glyph’ extraction rather than graphic extraction (p. 657). This is even truer of modern dictionaries, which reduce the number of section headers to less than half the number in Shuōwén, at which point it becomes impossible to have enough section headers to cover semantic elements in every character. In the Far Eastern Chinese English Dictionary for instance, 一 is a mere artificial extraction of a stroke from most of its subentries such as 丁 dīng and 且 qǐe; the same is true of 乙 yǐ in 九 jiǔ; 亅 jué or juě in 了 liǎo, le; 二 èr in 亞 yà and yǎ; 田 tián in 禺 yù; 豕 shǐ in 象 xiàng ‘elephant’, and so on. There are also instances of section headers which play a phonetic and not a semantic role in those characters, such as 臼 jiù ‘a mortar’ in 舅 jiù ‘maternal uncle’ (Shuōwén lists this under its semantic 男 nán, ‘male’, but modern dictionaries, with only 200-odd section headers, simply do not have enough to cover a semantic for every character) and 舊 jiù ‘owl; old’ (listed in the Far East on p. 1141 under the header 臼); 虎 hǔ ‘tiger’ in 虖 hū ‘shout’; 鬼 guǐ (originally ‘helmet’), now ‘ghost’, in 魁 kúi, ‘leader’; 鹿 lù ‘deer’ in 麓 lù, foothills; 麻 má ‘hemp’ in 麼 ma, mó ‘tiny’; 黃 huáng ‘yellow’ in 黌 hóng ‘a school’; 羽 yǔ ‘feather’ in 翌 yì ‘next’ (Qiú 2000, p. 7); 齊 qí in 齎 jī ‘to present’; 青 qīng in 靖 jìng ‘peaceful’, 靚 jìng ‘to ornament; quiet’; and 靜 jìng ‘quiet’, and so on. In other words, although most section headers happen to play a semantic role in the characters listed under them, they are not fundamentally semantic, but rather, are somewhat arbitrarily chosen classifiers used to group characters for lexicographic convenience. As Professor Jerry Norman (1988) writes (referring to semantic elements as “significs”):
Professor Woon Wee Lee (1987) also explains:
Other uses
Radical may also be used to refer to:- Any character which is also used as a dictionary’s section header: Some have failed to recognize the distinction between a character and that character’s role in a particular situation, thus coming to think of a character which is used as a section header as being a radical in and of itself, or a character which is phonetic in some instance as being a phonetic in and of itself. This is incorrect.
- Any component of a character. So great is the confusion among the various uses, that some have inferred that radical must simply mean any component or element of a character. This is of course fundamentally incorrect.
Position of radical within character
There are fourteen different radical positions, seven basic types and seven variant. The following table lists radical types with Japanese name and position in red and indicate how KanjiKanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
is formed by radical with example.
| Position | Japanese name | Chinese | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 旁 | Left sided element | consists of Radical 102 Radical 102 Radical 102 |field]]") is number 102 out of 214 Kangxi radicals. It is one of 23 radicals composed of five strokes. With 192 signs derived from this character in the Kangxi dictionary, it has a frequency somewhat below average.... and . |
||
| 旁 | Right accompanying element | consists of Radical 74 and . | ||
| 頭 | Crown Crown (headgear) A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to... element |
consists of Radical 77 and , consist of Radical 102 and . Note that single radical (e.g., Radical 102 ) is used for other type as well, and lesser strokes simple Kanji works as a radical, like is also Radical 19. |
||
| 底 | Foot element | consists of Radical 61 Radical 61 Radical 61 meaning "heart" is one of 34 of the 214 Kangxi radicals that are composed of 4 strokes.In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 1,115 characters to be found under this radical.- Characters with Radical 61:- Literature :... and , consists of Radical 102 and . Also note that single radical is interchangeably used for other type as well, and is Radical 106 Radical 106 Radical 106 meaning "white" is 1 of 23 Kangxi radicals composed of 5 strokes.In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 109 characters to be found under this radical.- Characters with Radical 106:-External links:*... too, but not used as crown type for . |
||
| Top and bottom element | consists of Radical 7 Radical 7 Radical 7 meaning "two" is one of 23 of the 214 Kangxi radicals that are composed of 2 strokes.In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 29 characters to be found under this radical.- Characters with Radical 7:- Literature :... and . |
|||
| Center element | consists of Radical 72 with upper and lower . | |||
| Dangle / left shoulder element | consists of Radical 63 Radical 63 Radical 63 meaning "door" or "house" is 1 of 34 Kangxi radicals composed of 4 strokes.In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 44 characters to be found under this radical.- Characters with Radical 63:... and . |
|||
| Surround / left and bottom element | consists of Radical 156 Radical 156 Radical 156 meaning "run" is 1 of 20 Kangxi radicals composed of 7 strokes.In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 285 characters to be found under this radical.- Characters with Radical 156:-See also:*... and . |
|||
| Posture (box, enclosure) element | consists of Radical 31 Radical 31 Radical 31 meaning "enclosure" is 1 of 31 Kangxi radicals composed of three strokes.In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 118 characters to be found under this radical.- Characters with Radical 31:... and . |
|||
| Box, bottom open | consists of Radical 169 and . | |||
| Box, top open | consists of Radical 17 Radical 17 Radical 17 is one of 23 of the 214 Kangxi radicals that are composed of 2 strokes.It does not occur as a character on its own. In combination, it historically takes meanings such as "open mouth", "box", "frame", "hole"... and . |
|||
| Box, right open | consists of Radical 22 and . | |||
| Right shoulder | consists of Radical 56 and . | |||
| Left and right sided | consists of Radical 144 and . |
Lists of radicals
- List of Kangxi radicals
- List of Shuowen Jiezi radicals
- List of Unicode radicals
- List of Xinhua Zidian radicals
Further reading
- Boltz, William G. (1994; revised 2003). The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System. American Oriental Series, vol. 78. American Oriental Society, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. ISBN 0-940490-18-8
- Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese. Cambridge University Press, UK. ISBN 0521228093; 0521296536.
- Wieger, Dr. L., S.J. (1927) Chinese Characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History, Classification and Signification. A Thorough Study from Chinese Documents. Translated from the French original ca. 1915 by L. Davrout, S.J., orig. Catholic Mission Press; reprinted in US – Dover; Taiwan – Lucky Book Co.. Dover paperback ISBN 0-486-21321-8
- Serruys, Paul L-M. (1984) "On the System of the Pu Shou 部首 in the Shuo-wen
chieh-tzu 說文解字", in 中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊 Zhōngyāng Yánjiūyuàn Lìshǐ Yǔyán Yánjiūsuǒ Jíkān, v.55:4, pp. 651–754.
- Woon, Wee Lee (雲惟利, 1987). Chinese Writing: Its Origin and Evolution. (in English; Chinese title漢字的原始和演變). Originally publ. by the Univ. of East Asia, Macau (no ISBN); now available through Joint Publishing, jpchk@jointpublishing.com (be sure to provide Chinese author and title).
- Wú, Teresa L. (1990). The Origin and Dissemination of Chinese Characters (中國文字只起源與繁衍). Caves Books, Taipei ISBN 957-606-002-8
- Xǔ Shèn (許慎) Shuōwén Jǐezì (說文解字), is most often accessed in annotated versions, the most famous of which is段玉裁 Duàn Yùcái (Tuan Yu-tsai; 1815). 說文解字注 Shuōwén Jǐezì Zhù (commentary on the Shuōwén Jíezì), compiled 1776–1807, and still reproduced in facsimile by various publishers. The reproduction by天工書局 Tiāngōng Books (1998) in Taibei is useful because the seal characters are highlighted in red ink.
External links
- Chinese Character Radicals List of Chinese Character Radicals
- 汉语大词典部首表 a list of radicals in the Hanyu Da CidianHanyu Da CidianThe Hanyu Da Cidian is the most inclusive available Chinese dictionary. Lexicographically comparable to the OED, it has diachronic coverage of the Chinese language, and traces usage over three millennia from Chinese classic texts to modern slang...