Looking up words in Chinese dictionary

[bones]

Hallo,

I was wondering if there are any rules when looking up a Chinese word which has more than one radical( 部首). For example:

1. 岩 - This word is found under 山 and not 石

2. 取 - Found under 又, not 耳

3. 弯 - Found under 弓, not 亠

At first I thought that we look up the radical with less strokes. But that does not hold true for number 3.

[YuehanHao]

When a character contains two components which both could be the radical, it is not clear to me all the time either which is actually the radical for that character. It is right that the possible radical with the fewest strokes is not necessarily the radical for a given character.

Knowing something about the meaning of the character will help one guess the radical. Typically the radical will signify the meaning of the character; sometimes the other part will provide the phonetic sound. Here is one character 帛, and it can mean silk. The bottom means cloth and is the radical. I believe the top part also provided meaning in the original use of this character, but it also has the phonetic sound. This lower part 巾 I would often guess as the radical in a character that I thought was related to clothing. By the same principle, 弯 would be expected to have the radical as 弓 because this means bow (which is bent when used), whereas the top part of this character is a phonetic component. Further, I would typically not make a first guess 亠 is the radical when I see a character is made up of a top half and bottom half and 亠 is just a subcomponent of the top half of the character.

For 取, here I believe 又 was originally written like a hand holding 耳, which is ear. Thus 取 has the meaning to take. As the hand was more aligned with the act of taking, it should be the radical.

岩 is tougher due to the similarity of meanings of components, but it means a cliff or peak, and 山 is the radical.

Persistence is the best thing. Sometimes the radical will just be hard to guess. If you want to give up, then some dictionaries have multi-radical lookup, or you could try some of the hand-writing recognition character searches on the internet. One character I remember struggling with was 哀 . The radical is 衣 even though it is divided by 口. Does that seem fair? I think the hardest radicals to figure out are those with a single stroke. If you look everywhere else and don't find it, then try there.

约翰好

[Lugubert]

One character I remember struggling with was 哀 . The radical is 衣 even though it is divided by 口.

I have invented the notion "strong radicals", meaning those that tend to be regarded as the radical when there are more than one possibility. For 哀, Wenlin, Mathews and A New Practical Chinese-English Dictionary choose the mouth (my favourite "strong" example), the Chinese-English Dictionary and Xinhua Zidian give the mouth and helpfully also the lid. So far, no 衣.

[imron]

I always thought a general rule of thumb is that if the character is a left-right character (i.e. you can split the character cleanly in half with a vertical line), then the radical is usually the left-most one.

For top-down characters (i.e. characters that can be split cleanly with a horizontal line), then the radical is usually the top-most one.

For inside-out characters (i.e. characters where one component is surrounded by another component) then it is usually the outside one.

Obviously there are many exceptions to this, including as mentioned above 取, and usually top-down characters that contain the 心 or the 灬 radical etc.

What YuehanHao said about looking for which one is related to the meaning also makes a lot of sense.

For 哀, Wenlin, Mathews and A New Practical Chinese-English Dictionary choose the mouth (my favourite "strong" example), the Chinese-English Dictionary and Xinhua Zidian give the mouth and helpfully also the lid. So far, no 衣.

现代汉语词典 gives the radical as 衣.

[Lu]

I have invented the notion "strong radicals", meaning those that tend to be regarded as the radical when there are more than one possibility.

I never tested this idea, but I have the feeling that this is the key. Some radicals are more often radical than others, and you get a nose for this the more characters you look up. After a while you just 'know' that a certain part must be the radical, even though two or three other parts are radicals in their own right. 怪 is an example.

[ziegphy]

This is a complex problem. Maybe I can explain it clearly to a chinese in chinese.

But...It maybe too difficult for a foreigner learner ande my English is so poor.

Anyway, I try my best.

The chinese word-buliding included 形声，会意，象形（I do not know how to say it in english) etc.

The 弯 is a 形声字．　The upside is　亦　and underside is 弓．　The 亦　is 声旁（charge the pronunciation---------many pronunciation is accorging to their archaic pronunciation). The 弓　is 形旁　（charge the meanings). Ｙou can look up in dictionary, the 弯＇s　original　meanings is draw the bow(弓）.

The 岩　is also a 形声字　but not this 岩．The 岩　is a simplified character(简体字）. The 繁体字（multiple　character?) is 巌－－山（upside)+ 厳（underside)(this is also the multiple　character for 　严）．　　Ｓo you can see the 巌　is 声旁　and the 山　is 形旁．　The 岩＇s original　meanings　is rock.

The 取　is a　会意字. Long long ago, In china soldiers shoule get enemy's head which he killed to prove his battle achievement. But the head is too big to tote it, so the soldier cut the cadaver's ear instead of head.

The 取＇s original　meanings is get the ear. the "又＂in 部首 is evolve from ＂手＂．

So that 耳＋手＝get the ear——"get" is the mainly meanings,—— ＂手＂charge the mainly meanings. ——find it undet "又＂not "耳＂

More example 梅: The 每　is 声旁，　and 木　is 形旁，　so you can look up it under 木　not 每

　　　　　　　沐：The 木　is 声旁　and three dot(express　the water) is 形旁，so you can look up is under three dot not 木．

So,　when you looking up words in chinese dictionary depend on radical, you can find it under 形旁　not 声旁．