Phonetic Radicals of Chinese Characters

Chinese characters do not have a strong funtion of representing sounds, but in pictophonetic characters the phonetic radicals can transmit information on the sounds. We will now provide some of the most frequently used sound radicals in our following lessons.

Phonetic (Sound) Radicals

Please click each radical to learn the sound it reprents and the characters using it.

Radicals as well as characters *

Radicals only

* Many radicals are Chinese characters themselves and are also of frequent usage. Hereabove they are taught as new characters as well, besides their uses of being phonetic radicals.

Radicals Index