Question 1 of 7
High: 0Score: 0
Radical Focus (Click character for stroke order guide):
Gate / Door (mén)
To ask / inquire (wèn)
Select the correct Chinese character:
Chinese radicals: the beginner's way in
Chinese characters are not arbitrary pictures to be memorised whole. Most are built from a small set of recurring components called radicals, and once you can see those components a character becomes a structure rather than a shape. This beginner quiz introduces the most common radical families with audio pronunciation and straightforward clues.
How to play
- Listen to the pronunciation and read the clue provided.
- Choose the character that belongs to the radical family being described.
- Feedback appears immediately, with the reasoning behind the answer.
- Questions rotate between sets, so repeat rounds stay useful.
What you’ll practise
- Recognising high-frequency radicals such as water, hand, heart and speech.
- Predicting roughly what a character means from its radical alone.
- Connecting the radical to the pronunciation of the whole character.
- Building the habit of decomposing characters instead of memorising them wholesale.
Learners who study radicals early tend to acquire characters noticeably faster later on, because each new character becomes a combination of things already known rather than a fresh shape. It is front-loaded effort that pays back steadily — and it makes look-alike characters far less confusing.