Radicals Level 7 Flashcards
鳥
Bird
See the cool wing on the bottom? See the head with the neat feather coming out of the top? This is a bird. Tweet tweet!
黒
Black
If you boil a village everything will turn black. Mostly because you’re a crazed murderer, but more so because when you boil a village all the roads melt and coat everything in black tar. Picture it! It looks like Pompeii. (Oof, too soon?)
舟
Boat
This looks like a boat coming toward you in the water. See the billowing sail and the reflection off the water? That’s what boats look like.
凵
Box
This box is open. There could be any number of things inside, but for now all you need to know is the meaning of this radical, which is box.
周
Circumference
Put some dirt around your head and in your mouth to figure out your head’s circumference. When you pull your head out you’ll have the perfect shape of your head, making measuring the circumference easy. Oh, and the dirt in your mouth? That’s just for the taste.
氏
Clan
Under a cliff, you spot a cross, slightly tilted. The cross is there to mark a famous clan that once ruled the lands below the cliff. It’s a pretty unique cross, so whenever you see it there under the cliff, you’ll know it honors the clan who lived there.
象
Elephant
In prison there’s a pig with a stick in its mouth. Why did the pig put a stick in its mouth? Well, it wanted to look more like an elephant. The stick was supposed to be a trunk or tusk or something, but the real elephants didn’t like that. They threw that wannabe elephant in prison.
魚
Fish
In a prison on a rice paddy they’re boiling something. What do you think it is? Fish! What goes better with rice? What’s easy to find, making it cheap prison food? Fish, of course!
門
Gate
This radical already looks like a gate, right? Just imagine a big gate with two pillars, one on either side. Then, up above are the doors, which can come down at any moment.
夫
Husband
The radicals ground and big make up this radical. There’s a big guy on the ground… who is that big guy? Embarrassingly, it’s your husband. Feel the shame that he got knocked down on the ground. By what? Who? How? (It doesn’t matter.)
Don’t confuse this with 未 (jet), though. See how 未 has a little tail at the end? That’s because jets and other planes have tails, while husbands don’t. At least I’d sure hope yours doesn’t.
欠
Lack
There’s a person in a prison. Why is this person in prison? Because they lack the stuff humans need to be around other humans. If you’re lacking something (kindness, self-control, etc.) you may do something that makes other people put you in prison. Try to fix what you lack so this won’t happen to you.
己
Oneself
This looks a bit like a backwards S. S for Self. But it’s backwards because you didn’t want to mix yourself up with any of the other selves out there, so you flipped it. That’s why it means oneself. (That’s you!)
This radical will appear as things like yourself, herself, etc., so keep that in mind!
卩
Stamp
This radical looks a little like the letter P, right? It’s a P printed onto something… wait, it’s not printed, it’s a stamp that’s been put on the paper. Peter Parker likes to use stamps instead of pens.
几
Table
What happens when you put a flat surface on top of a pair of legs? You get a table.
孝
Teacher
This radical is made up of coffin and child. To keep a child out of a coffin they’ll need a good teacher to make sure they know not to stick forks in outlets or dance in traffic. That’s why this radical is a teacher.
寺
Temple
This radical looks kind of like a temple on a hill, don’t you think? With all the layers, n’ stuff? Just picture that first horizontal line as the base of the ornate temple balancing on that hill underneath it and you’ll have no problem remembering this radical.
且
Top Hat
This radical looks just like a top hat. That’s why it’s top hat!
勿
Wing
See the wing? It’s kind of like a bat wing with webbing. Either way, it’s just a wing.
黄
Yellow
Flowers that grow out of the ground of a rice paddy after you bury fins there will grow yellow. Why? Because yellow is the color of a fish’s soul, so planting flowers over their fins will turn them into a nice, pretty yellow.
