Radicals ぶしゅ (部首) ٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶ Japanese kanji have radicals that are used when searching for kanji in a dictionary. Many kanji dictionaries are arranged by radical and not an AIUEO order. There are 214 radicals that are called the Kangxi radicals. Some of these also have variations. For example, ⺌ is a variant of ⼩. Radicals can be found within this Kangxi list usually based on the number of strokes. Radicals range from 1 to 17 strokes. Kanji can be made up of one or more radicals, but only one radical is considered "the active radical". This "active radical" is used when locating it in a dictionary. Everything else is considered a component, element, or part. Example - The kanji for cat is 猫. The radical is 犭(which is a variation of 犬). Everything else is considered a component/part/element: 田 ⺾ Knowing which radical is considered the "active radical" can be hard. I haven't found a fool-proof way online. There are some lists made that help you find out where to start, but basically you locate components of the kanji and look up each until you find your kanji. Thankfully, a lot of online kanji dictionaries allow you to search by any component and will narrow down which kanji you're searching for. Radicals don't have official names, but there are common names found in most lists. That's why you may see ⽀ meaning "branch" or "frog" etc., depending on which website you're on. ★ Points to know ★ ・Radicals don't always mean something on their own. ・Not all radicals are kanji by themselves, but some are. ・Every kanji has at least one radical. ・Even if the kanji is made up of more than one radical, there is always just one considered "the active radical". ・Radicals don't have official names, just commonly used ones. Knowing about radicals seems like a headache, but it can be really useful! Radicals can help you understand the meaning of kanji in some cases. And you can use radicals to help you memorize kanji. If you've ever heard of mnemonics, you can use this type of learning to make a story out of the radicals to help you memorize what they mean and their readings. To see a full list of the 214 Kangxi radicals, a really good website is Kanji Alive. Follow that link to see them ordered by stroke count and to see their meanings and variations.
