A meaning radical is a part in a pictophonetic character used to indicate the meaning of the character, while a phonetic radical is used to suggest the sound. Since about 80% of Chinese characters are pictophonetic, to learn both kinds of radicals will be very helpful for remembering Chinese characters.
The following lessons are the knowledge on the Chinese meaning radical and phoetic (sound) radicals of pictophonetic characters. Please bear in mind that during the long history of its development, meaning radical has dropped its indicative function in some characters.
Meaning Radicals
