春，拳，看，差etc. What are the different radicals on top?

[liangweiming]

Hi all!

I keep confusing the top part of some characters like 春，拳，看，差 etc. As you can see, the top part of these characters are a bit similar. I am sure that I would have a easier time remembering them if I knew the original meaning. Like 看, I thing the top part is supposed to be 手 ahd the bottom obviously is 目, and this makes 看 easy to remeber, but what about the others? What are the top parts of 春，拳，差 ?

Thanks in advance!

[liangweiming]

Here is another one 眷

[Hofmann]

The thing on top of 春 is an abbreviation of 艸 on top of 屯. That is, it used to be 萅.

拳 has  (I can't see it.). It's a phonetic, also present in 卷.

差 has 垂 on top, but one can say it's 羊. (On the bottom is 左, not 工.)

[chaxiu]

You might try this sight and dictionary. I think it can be quite useful.

www.zhongwen.com

Chaxiu

[Gleaves]

I can find it pretty frustrating when components don't deconstruct nicely or seem far removed from their original form. I usally just just drop all pretense for etymological correctness and get something in my head that will stick (meaning there is nothing correct about these, just mnemonics).

For the top of 春, I picture a slanted 丰 (buxom) with the additional stroke as a leg kicking out. So a buxom lady kicking, like a showgirl or Rockette. Then the top of these characters is always a showgirl in my mind - 奏泰奉秦.

For the top of 拳, I picture 夫 (husband/man) with the top two strokes as horns. So a man with horns. Maybe a demon, devil... Darth Maul, even.

[Tycho01]

Sorry about the bump.

This place has lotsa hanzi decompositions -- most stuff will be in the first file (make sure to view using UTF-.

In this case it's only got viewable versions of 龵 and ⺶, but it's something at least.