Bushou - Chinese Radical
Speed Up Recognition of Words
The Chinese radicals are known as Bushou 部首.
They are components of characters used to categorize words in the language. A radical can be positioned on the left, right, upper or lower parts of a character.
It is a very useful tool for understanding and memorizing the Chinese characters.
To understand what we mean, look at the example below. It is the Chinese character 'Nǐ', which means 'you':
你
Examine it closely! Like many other Chinese characters, it consists of two components.
First component
On the left is the radical 亻, which is a variation of the character rén 人.
The radical tells you that the word has something to do with human being. In this case, it means ‘you’.
Second component
The second component usually signifies the meaning or sound of a word. In this case, ěr尔 is an archaic word that means ‘you’.
In other cases, the component may carry no meaning, only to indicate the sound of the character.
Bushou and meaning of words
Know the bu shou, or radical, and you will have a broad idea of any new words that you encounter. Although you may not know exactly what the new word means, you will have a rough idea of what it is about.
Let's look at some other words with the Rén 人(person) as radical, and you’d know what we mean.
Note that it is written as 亻when positioned on the lift-hand side of a character as radical.
Rén 人, means person;
Tā 他, means he;
Nǐ 你, means you;
Cóng 从, means follow;
Zhòng 众, means many people, a crowd.
Let's look at another radical.
Yán 言is a Chinese character that means speech and is written as 讠when positioned on the left-hand side of a character as radical. When you see the radical, chances are that the character that it is a component of has something to do with speech.
These are some characters that have Yán 言as radical. As you can see, they are all related to speeches or language.
Shuō 说, means to speak or to say;
Huà 话, means speech;
Yǔ 语, means speech or language;
Jiǎng 讲, means to speak or to say.
Whether you are learning to write chinese, or simply getting some idea about a new word, knowing the radicals is extremely useful. It is a wonderful tool to multiply your vocabulary.
Read about Chinese pictogram.
Read about simplified and traditional Chinese.
Go to home page.