The study of characters

How to use a Chinese dictionary

Contents

Part 1: 3 ways to look up a character in a Chinese dictionary

Part 2: the steps involved in looking up a character in a Chinese dictionary by radical

Part 3: Basic stroke chart

Part 4: Radical name chart

Part 5: Radical table

Part 6: two examples with screen shot (by radical)

Part 1: There are usually 3 ways to look up a character in a Chinese dictionary.

For a character you know the pronunciation but not its character and meaning, you simply look for it by its sound as you would do an English dictionary, according to its alphabetical definition. For example, you want to look up the character “江(jiāng)”. First, go to the “Initial column” and find “J”, then find the syllable “jiang” under it, and finally you can find this character.
For a character which has no radical and you do not know its pronunciation, you can look it up by the total number of its strokes. For example: “甩(shuǎi)(fling)”, “垂(chuí)(hang down)”, and “凸(tū)(convex, stick out)”
For a character you cannot recognize in a text and you need to find its meaning, you need to go get the dictionary definition by its radical, then find the word, and finally go to the dictionary definition itself with sound, meaning, and illustrations.

Part 2: The steps involved in looking up a character in a Chinese dictionary by radical.

1. Identify the radical under which the character is most likely to have been indexed.

e.g. to look up “房” (house), you decide that “户” (household, family) is the radical, instead of considering “方” (square) as the radical.

2. Count the number of strokes in the component you have selected as the most likely radical. Search the radical index for the radical beginning with entries containing the counted number of strokes. Find the section of the dictionary associated with that radical.

e.g. you count the number of strokes in “户” and find there are 4 strokes. Then you go to the radical index and find “户” listed in the group titled “4 strokes”.

3. Count the number of strokes in the non-radical portion of the character. Look under that number (plus or minus, depending on your accuracy) for the compete character.

e.g. after decide the radical and find it in the radical index, you count the number of strokes of “方” and find there are 4 strokes (you may take it for a 5-stroke part, in that case, you will not find the character unless you re-count it and do it correctly).

4. Find the pages in the dictionary listing characters under that radical that has that number of additional strokes.

5. If you cannot find the character, select another component as the next most likely radical, and try again.

e.g. if you consider the radical of the character “房” is “方”，you will not find the character as expected. In that case, you should identify “户” as the radical.

e.g consider the character “信” (mouth with sound - a "human" standing next to his "words") meaning "truth", "faith", "sincerity", and "trust". Its index radical is "human" (亻) and there are 7 additional strokes in the remaining portion (言). To look this character up in a dictionary, one finds the radical for "human" in the part of dictionary that indexes radicals, finds the page for that radical, and then passes through the lists of characters with one additional stroke, 2 additional strokes, etc. until one reaches the entries with 7 additional strokes. If the radical chosen by the user matches the radical used by the dictionary compiler (which can be difficult to guarantee for more complicated characters), and if both the user and the dictionary compiler count strokes the same way (also often a problem with characters that the user is unfamiliar with), the entry will be in that list, and will appear next to an entry number or a page number where the full dictionary entry for that character can be found.

6. In order to further ease dictionary lookup, dictionaries sometimes list radicals both under the number of strokes used to write their canonical form and under the number of strokes used to write their variant forms. For example, “心” can be listed as a four-stroke radical but might also be listed as a three-stroke radical because it is usually written as “忄” when it forms a part of another character. This means that the dictionary user need not know that the two are etymologically identical.

7. If you have run out of possibilities, you are advised to look it up by number of strokes.

8. As a rule of thumb, radicals in the left or top of the character, or elements which surround the rest of the character are the ones most likely to be used as index radicals. For example, “信” is typically indexed under the left-side radical “亻” instead of the right-side “言”. There are, however, ideosyncratic differences between dictionaries, and except for simple cases, the same character cannot be assumed to be indexed the same way in two different dictionaries.

9. In order to further ease dictionary lookup, dictionaries sometimes list radicals both under the number of strokes used to write their canonical form and under the number of strokes used to write their variant forms. For example, “心” can be listed as a four-stroke radical but might also be listed as a three-stroke radical because it is usually written as “忄” when it forms a part of another character. This means that the dictionary user need not know that the two are etymologically identical.

e.g. “火” may be listed as “灬”, “水” as “氵” in some old versions.

10. If there are two radicals, either of each occupies one entire side of the character (the whole left or the whole right, the whole top or the whole bottom, as in “好”or “安”), left is stronger than right and top is stronger than bottom. Thus, the first of these will be under woman -- not child -- and the second under roof -- not woman.) If there is no such radical, but there is a radical in the upper left corner, it will count as the radical. We will call such radicals dominant.

Part 3: Basic stroke.

Part 4: Radical Name.

No.	Radical		Variants	Simplified Radical	English Name	Stroke Count
1	一				one	1
2	丨				line	1
3	丶				dot	1
4	丿		乀, 乁		slash	1
5	乙		乚, 乛		second	1
6		亅			hook	1
7		二			two	2
8		亠			lid	2
9		人	亻		man	2
10		儿			legs	2
11		入			enter	2
12		八	丷		eight	2
13		冂			down box	2
14		冖			over	2
15		冫			ice	2
16		几			table	2
17		凵			open box	2
18		刀	刂		knife	2
19		力			power	2
20		勹			wrap	2
21		匕			spoon	2
22		匚			right open box	2
23		匸			hiding enclosure	2
24		十			ten	2
25		卜			Mysticism	2
26		卩			seal	2
27		厂			cliff	2
28		厶			private	2
29		又			again	2
30		口			mouth	3
31		囗			enclosure	3
32		土			earth	3
33		士			scholar	3
34		夂			go	3
35		夊			go slowly	3
36		夕			evening	3
37		大			big	3
38		女(nǚ)			woman	3
39		子			child	3
40		宀			roof	3
41		寸			inch	3
42		小			small	3
43		尢	尣		lame	3
44		尸			corpse	3
45		屮			sprout	3
46		山			mountain	3
47		川	巛, 巜		river	3
48		工			work	3
49		己			oneself	3
50		巾			turban	3
51		干			dry	3
52		幺			short thread	3
53		广			dotted cliff	3
54		廴			long stride	3
55		廾			two hands	3
56		弋			shoot	3
57		弓			bow	3
58		彐	彑		snout	3
59		彡			bristle	3
60		彳			step	3
61		心	忄		heart	4
62		戈			halberd	4
63		戶			door	4
64		手	扌		hand	4
65		支			branch	4
66		攴	攵		rap	4
67		文			script	4
68		斗			dipper	4
69		斤			axe	4
70		方			square	4
71		无			not	4
72		日			sun	4
73		曰			say	4
74		月			moon	4
75		木			tree	4
76		欠			lack	4
77		止			stop	4
78		歹			death	4
79		殳			weapon	4
80		毋			do not	4
81		比			compare	4
82		毛			fur	4
83		氏			clan	4
84		气			steam	4
85		水	氵		water	4
86		火	灬		fire	4
87		爪	爫		claw	4
88		父			father	4
89		爻			double x	4
90		爿			half tree trunk	4
91		片			slice	4
92		牙			fang	4
93		牛	牜		cow	4
94		犬	犭		dog	4
95		玄			profound	5
96		玉	王		jade	5
97		瓜			melon	5
98		瓦			tile	5
99		甘			sweet	5
100		生			life	5
101		用			use	5
102		田			field	5
103		疋			bolt of cloth	5
104		疒			sickness	5
105		癶			dotted tent	5
106		白			white	5
107		皮			skin	5
108		皿			dish	5
109		目			eye	5
110		矛			spear	5
111		矢			arrow	5
112		石			stone	5
113		示	礻		spirit	5
114		禸			track	5
115		禾			grain	5
116		穴			cave	5
117		立			stand	5
118		竹			bamboo	6
119		米			rice	6
120		糸		纟	silk	6
121		缶			jar	6
122		网	罒		net	6
123		羊			sheep	6
124		羽			feather	6
125		老			old	6
126		而			and	6
127		耒			plow	6
128		耳			ear	6
129		聿			brush	6
130		肉			meat	6
131		臣			minister	6
132		自			self	6
133		至			arrive	6
134		臼			mortar	6
135		舌			tongue	6
136		舛			oppose	6
137		舟			boat	6
138		艮			stopping	6
139		色			color	6
140		艸	艹		grass	6
141		虍			tiger	6
142		虫			insect	6
143		血			blood	6
144		行			walk enclosure	6
145		衣	衤		clothes	6
146		襾	覀		west	6
147		見		见	see	7
148		角			horn	7
149		言		讠	speech	7
150		谷			valley	7
151		豆			bean	7
152		豖			pig	7
153		豸			badger	7
154		貝		贝	shell	7
155		赤			red	7
156		走			run	7
157		足			foot	7
158		身			body	7
159		車		车	cart	7
160		辛			bitter	7
161		辰			morning	7
162		辵	辶		walk	7
163		邑	阝(right)		city	7
164		酉			wine	7
165		釆			distinguish	7
166		里			village	7
167		金			gold	8
168		長		长	long	8
169		門		门	gate	8
170		阜	阝(left)		mound	8
171		隶			slave	8
172		隹			short tailed bird	8
173		雨			rain	8
174		青			blue	8
175		非			wrong	8
176		面			face	9
177		革			leather	9
178		韋		韦	tanned leather	9
179		韭			leek	9
180		音			sound	9
181		頁		页	leaf	9
182		風		风	wind	9
183		飛		飞	fly	9
184		食	飠	饣	eat	9
185		首			head	9
186		香			fragrant	9
187		馬		马	horse	10
188		骨			bone	10
189		高			tall	10
190		髟			hair	10
191		鬥			fight	10
192		鬯			sacrificial wine	10
193		鬲			cauldron	10
194		鬼			ghost	10
195		魚		鱼	fish	11
196		鳥		鸟	bird	11
197		鹵			salt	11
198		鹿			deer	11
199		麥		麦	wheat	11
200		麻			hemp	11
201		黃			yellow	12
202		黍			millet	12
203		黑			black	12
204		黹			embroidery	12
205		黽		黾	frog	13
206		鼎			tripod	13
207		鼓			drum	13
208		鼠		鼡	rat	13
209		鼻			nose	14
210		齊		齐	even	14
211		齒		齿	tooth	15
212		龍		龙	dragon	16
213		龜		龟	turtle	16
214		龠			flute	17

Part 5: Radical Table.

1	一丨丶丿乙亅
2	二人儿入八冂冖几凵刀力匕匚匸十卜卩厂厶又
3	口囗土士夂夊夕大女子宀寸小尢尸屮山巛工己巾干幺广廴廾弋弓彐彡彳
4	心戈戶手支攴文斗斤方无日曰月木欠止歹殳毋比毛氏气水火爪父爻爿片牙牛犬
5	玄玉瓜瓦甘生用田疋疒癶白皮皿目矛矢石示禸禾穴立
6	竹米糸缶网羊羽老而耒耳聿肉臣自至臼舌舛舟艮色艸虍虫血行衣襾
7	見角言谷豆豕豸貝赤走足身車辛辰辵邑酉釆里
8	金長門阜隶隹雨靑非
9	面革韋韭音頁風飛食首香
10	馬骨高髟鬥鬯鬲鬼
11	魚鳥鹵鹿麥麻
12	黃黍黑黹
13	黽鼎鼓鼠
14	鼻齊
15	齒
16	龍龜
17	龠

Part 6: Below please find two examples (by radical).

1.Radical chart	Go to the Radical Chart (部首检字表）first. Every Chinese dictionary has a radical chart, which contains all the 100 or so radicals. These radicals are mostly the most rudimentary characters, in monographic forms:

2.Find the radical of 确.	The radical in this character is 石 ,which has 5 strokes. Find the radical from the radical chart by its stroke numbers. The number 56 refers to the page of （检字表）where you will find all the words with 石 radical:

3.Find the character	In 检字表 find the word by counting strokes of the rest of the character. In the character 确，aside from the radical 石， the rest part of the character has 7 strokes. You find the character under the 7 stroke column and the page number where you should go to to find the word.

4.Find the word	Then you go to page 942 to finally find the word. You get the pronunciation and the meaning of the character and the meaning of the word 确实。

1.Find the radical	The character 实 has a different radical, which is its upper part. The radical has three strokes; thus we find the radical from the 3 stroke column:

2.Find the character	Then you go to page 26 to find all the characters with the radical. You find the character you want by counting the strokes of the rest of the character, which has 5 strokes:

3.	After you find the character in the 5 stroke column, you get the page number 1026,where you will find the word 实,with sound, definition, illustrations, and all the words in combination with 实:

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