APPENDIX 6 THE RADICALS 1. History and Background The traditional method of. ordering entries in Chinese and Japanese character dictionaries is known as the radical system, This system is based on a table of 214 elements (plus about 150 variants) called radicals. A radical is a frequently recurring graphic component used for classifying characters into groups sharing a common element. The radicals are listed in increasing order of their stroke-counts. Characters sharing the same radical are further grouped in increasing order of the stroke-counts of their nonradical elements. The radical broadly suggests the area of meaning of the character, and is often related to the character's etymology. For example, Of, 'tree; wood' is found in many characters designating the names of trees or wooden objects, e.g.- #g bat 'plum tree1. Often, however, the radical is merely an element used for classification purposes and is unrelated to the character's meaning, e,g., in the characters fi and The radical system was first introduced some 1900 years ago in the well-known Chinese classic dictionary I>l3tf§?^ setsumon kaiji (Chinese: shuowen jiezi)t in which the characters were classified under 540 categories. In 1716, a comprehensive character dictionary called JffJIE^lSj. koki jiten (Chinese: kangxi zidian) was published in China, reducing the number of radicals to 214, The latter has served as a model for all later character dictionaries, and the radical system it introduced is still in use as the most widespread scheme of lexicographic classification today. The original forms of the 214 traditional radicals are referred to here as the standard or parent form. A radical may also have one or more variant forms of considerably different shape and/or stroke-count. For example, y is a three-stroke variant of the four-stroke 'water radical 7JC (Radical 85). On the other hand, the difference between some variants is merely a slight difference in proportion. For example, the standard form ^ of Radical 57 (as in if) has the left-side variant $ (as in $p). The position of many radicals is constant in relation to the other elements of the character. Traditionally, the radicals are classified into categories according to their position within the character, as shown in the table below: Types of Radicals E i hen left i in ft rj tsukuri right k in & B it kanmuri top in y m a$hi bottom JL in m tare tüp-left r in □ m nyo left-bottom t in n kamae enclosure in 3n1 The radical system is complex and difficult to master. One problem is that the simplification of the characters that took place with the introduction of the Toyo Kanji and Joyo Kanji lists in the postwar period has resulted in the disappearance of the radical element from some characters. For example, J£ is traditionally classified under if. (Radical 157) based on its old form JJ, but the element jV has completely disappeared from the abbreviated form (The traditional radical of these "lost-radical" characters can be determined by looking the character up in the Radical Index.) Another problem is that some characters include several radical elements and one must choose between them. For example, glj consists of four elements, all of which are radicals {see system ot kanji indexing u¥ patterns § 1,1.1 The Radical System for details). Because of these difficulties, determining which element of a character is the radical can be a laborious task. Some useful guidelines can be found in § 4. How to Determine the Radical on p. 1931. Despite these problems, the time-honored radical system, which is still in widespread use today, is important and should be learned by the serious student. A knowledge of radicals is useful for looking up characters in dictionaries and reference works based on the radical system, and helps the learner understand character etymology. 2. Radical Chart The Radical Chart below gives a full list of radical forms, variants, names, and cross-references, ft includes the following information: 1. Radical The radicals and their variant forms are listed in increasing orde of the stroke-counts of their standard forms, and are numbered consecutive! from 1 to 214 according to the traditional historical arrangement. The radical number is a serial number assigned to each radical that is widely used m character dictionaries and reference works for identification. The left part the Radical column gives the radical number; the right part gives the ra ical. Note that the radical and radical number for each entry character 2 pear in the main part of the dictionary (see guide § 7.2 Radical). 2. Radical Name When talking about the components of Chinese characters it is convenient to describe them by naming their constituent radicals. For example, we can say that consists of sanzui (the 'water' radical) on the left and hitsuji (the 'sheep' radical) on the right. Most radicals have well-established names in Japanese. The left part of the Radical Name column gives the romanized version of the most common name in Japanese; the right part gives the name in Japanese script.1 If a radical has more than one name, the less common one appears after a comma. The words "variant not used as radical" sometimes appear in this column. This indicates a variant used only as an independent character but not as a radical in its own right. For example, lg ryu is an independent character meaning 'dragon', but as a radical it always appears in its full form Ig. 3. English Name Some common radicals, such as tK the 'water' radical, have well-established names in English, but many others are called by different names in different works. The names appearing in the English Name column are based primarily on tradition, where such tradition exists, and on the meaning and/or function of the radical as a character-building element. 4. Standard and Variant Forms The Form column indicates if the radical is a standard form or a variant form. If it is a variant form, it shows the position in which it normally appears within the character, as explained below : Standard Left Right Top Bottom Enclosure Variant parent radical in its full traditional form in