木字旁 (mù zì pang) or the tree radical, is seen in many Chinese characters with a ‘natural’ meaning such as trees 李子 (lǐ zi) plum tree, fruits such as 橙子 (chéng zi) orange and even wooden objects, such as 柜子 (guì zi) cabinet. It can also be seen in less obvious characters, some of which are featured below. Here are… Read More
If you’re struggling with your tones, there are a few things you can do (including reading this article!): You can check out the Written Chinese Tone Trainer. Click on the speaker button and then choose from the 5 tones below. The trainer will keep a score for you so you know how well you’re doing!… Read More
To continue with our radical-ly themed blog posts and to show a bit of love to all of you Written Chinese followers, 心字底 (xīn zì dǐ), or the heart radical is this week’s choice. The heart radical can be written in two ways; either at the bottom of a character as in 想 (xiǎng), 忘… Read More
Posted by Joe from WrittenChinese.Com What is Chinese Herbal Medicine? Chinese herbal medicine has been a tradition for thousands of years. The first known compilation of medicinal plants and other substances is the 神农本草经 (shénnóng běncǎo jīng) – the Divine Farmer’s Classic of Herbal Medicine, named after the mythical ancient Chinese king 神农 (shénnóng) and dating from around… Read More
Radicals are the building blocks of Chinese characters and show us the meaning or sometimes pronunciation of a character. If you’re interested in learning to read and write Chinese characters, radicals are an integral part of the learning process, and you can check out our article, The Radical Truth, to find out why learning radical… Read More
Chinese characters can often be broken up into smaller pieces, or “radicals.” These radicals can give clues to a word’s meaning and pronunciation. One of the easiest radicals to spot in Chinese is 氵 三点水 (sān diǎn shuǐ), or the water radical. If you encounter this radical on the left side of a character, you can be almost certain… Read More
