The 20 Most Common Kanji Radicals, With Examples

The 20 most common radicals at a glance

Every kanji is filed under one radical (部首, ぶしゅ) in a dictionary. To find out which radicals matter most, we counted the radical column of Wikipedia's list of the 2,136 常用漢字 (jōyō kanji), the official set of kanji for everyday use. Fire and bamboo tie for twentieth place, so the table below has 21 radicals, and together they classify 1,159 kanji, more than half of the list.

Several of these radicals are kanji in their own right, such as 水, 木, 口 and 金. Learn the standalone kanji first, then notice how it changes shape when it becomes a part of a bigger character.

How the count works, and its limits

Each kanji has exactly one dictionary radical, so a character like 休 counts once, under 亻, even though it also contains 木. Variant shapes are counted together with their parent: 氵 belongs to 水, 扌 to 手, 刂 to 刀 and 辶 to its traditional form 辵. If you want the background on what a radical is and the seven positions it can take, read the kanji radicals guide first.

Keep two limits in mind. First, dictionaries do not always agree. The Wikipedia list files 体 (からだ, body) under 骨 (bone), the radical of its traditional form 體, even though today it is written with 亻. Second, this is a count of dictionary radicals, not of every visible part. Wikipedia's frequency list, which counts any kanji where a shape appears as a component, puts 口 first, visible in 2,839 kanji. Both views are useful, and the ranking above is the one that matches how dictionaries and most textbooks group characters.

Left-side radicals do most of the work

Most of the top 20 sit on the left side of a kanji, a position called へん (hen). That is why so many of their names end in へん, as in きへん (tree on the left) and いとへん (thread on the left). The left part is usually narrow, and the right part often carries a hint about the sound.

• 氵 water: three short strokes, used for liquids and bodies of water: 海, 池 (いけ, pond), 湖 (みずうみ, lake).
• 亻 person: a slanted stroke and a vertical, used for people and what they do: 休, 住, 作 (つくる, make).
• 扌 hand: looks like a narrow 手, used for actions done with the hands: 持, 拾, 指.
• 言 speech: used for words and talking: 語, 話, 読, all JLPT N5 kanji.
• 糸 thread: used for cloth, string and things that connect: 紙, 線, 絵.

Tops, bottoms and wraps

The rest of the top 20 take other positions. Recognizing the shape is half the work, because these forms can look quite different from the kanji they come from.

• On top (かんむり): 艹 for plants (花, 茶), 宀 for buildings and roofs (家, 室), and ⺮ for bamboo and things made of it (箱, 答).
• At the bottom (あし): 心 often sits underneath, as in 思 and 意, and fire becomes four dots, 灬, called れっか, as in 熱.
• Wrapping (にょう): 辶 runs along the left and bottom, and it marks movement and roads: 道, 近, 週.
• On the right (つくり): 刂, the knife radical, sits on the right in 前, 別 and 利 (り, profit).

辶 is written last, even though it sits on the left. In 道 you write 首 first, then the wrapping stroke underneath it. Check any character in the stroke order lookup if you are unsure.

Look-alikes to keep apart

A few radicals share a shape with a different one. These pairs cause most of the confusion:

• 月 as body vs 月 as moon: in body words like 胃, 脳 and 腕 (うで, arm), 月 is a form of 肉 (flesh), called にくづき. In 朝 (あさ, morning) and 期 (き, period) it is the moon radical. A 月 in a body-part kanji is almost always にくづき.
• 阝 on the left vs the right: on the left it is こざとへん (hill), as in 院 and 階. On the right it is a different radical, おおざと (village), as in 部 (ぶ, part) and 都 (と, capital).
• 氵 vs 冫: three strokes means water. Two strokes is にすい (ice), as in 冷 (つめたい, cold).
• 扌 vs 木: the hand radical has a hook and a rising stroke, while tree has a sweep on each side. Compare 持 and 校.

How to study the top 20

1. Learn each radical with a real kanji. Pair 氵 with 海 and 言 with 語 so the shape is tied to a word you use, not an abstract list.
2. Say the parts out loud. Before memorizing a new kanji, name its pieces: 話 is speech plus tongue. The guide to remembering kanji shows how to turn the parts into a short story.
3. Group by radical once you know a few dozen kanji. Reviewing 海, 池 and 湖 together makes the water pattern stick.
4. Treat meanings as hints, not rules. 漢 has the water radical but means China or Chinese, not anything wet.
5. Review on a schedule. Short daily reviews with spaced repetition move the shapes into long-term memory.

Moji has a radical practice mode that drills the parts of each kanji it teaches. If you prefer to start from whole characters, the most common kanji guide lists the ones you meet first in real text, and most of them use a radical from this list.