Look Who it Was Random video

Learn Mandarin Chinese Radicals Through 猫 (Cat) and 狗 (Dog)

2,965 views · Published 9 May 2017 · 16:53 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: eChineseLearning · 2017 · Education

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In today's lesson Teacher Joyce breaks down the written Chinese characters for "cat" and "dog" and shows you their combination of other Chinese words and the use of written "radicals" which mean nothing alone, but can combine to form a word with meaning. Let's take a look:
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猫 (māo) = cat

The character 猫 can be broken down and taken apart like this:

苗 (miáo) = seed / sapling (you can see the top of the character looks like trees or plants)
田 (tián) = land (you can see the character looks like a piece of land)
犭 = animal radical (usually an animal with four legs)
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狗 (gǒu) = dog
The character 狗 can be broken down and taken apart like this:
口 (kǒu) = mouth
勹 (bāo) radical for "wrap"; and
犭 = animal radical (usually an animal with four legs)
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So, what exactly is a Chinese "radical"? 
Similar to how the English alphabet is organized into letters, Chinese writing is organized into "radicals". There are 214 different radicals, but some are rarely used. Radicals indicate what something is made of or how it looks. 

In Chinese, radicals are also used to find characters in a dictionary. You can first find the radical from the radical list. When you have found the radical you can count the remaining number of strokes in the character. Then, you can find the character using this information.

Common radicals are: 
人 亻 man
女 woman
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