line

Origin & mnemonic

This radical originates from a simple vertical stroke in oracle-bone and seal script, representing a line or natural boundary. It is the most fundamental radical, serving to distinguish and structure other characters.

Mnemonic: One vertical stroke—the line radical is the foundation of all Chinese characters, like a taut string.

• 丨gǔn🔊

  radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 2)

  1 strokes

• 丩jiū🔊

  old variant of 糾|纠[jiu1]

  2 strokes

• 个gè🔊

  variant of 個|个[ge4]

  HSK 1

  3 strokes

• 丫yā🔊

  fork

  3 strokes

• 㐄kuà🔊

  component in Chinese characters, mirror image of 夂[zhi3]

  3 strokes

• 中zhōng🔊

  within; among; in

  HSK 1

  4 strokes

• 书shū🔊

  book

  HSK 1

  4 strokes

• 丮jǐ🔊

  to catch

  4 strokes

• 丰fēng🔊

  abundant

  4 strokes

• 丱guàn🔊

  two tufts of hair

  5 strokes

• 串chuàn🔊

  to string together

  HSK 6

  7 strokes

• 丳chǎn🔊

  skewer

  8 strokes

• 临lín🔊

  to face

  HSK 7

  9 strokes

• 丵zhuó🔊

  thick grass

  10 strokes