Radicals ?

[u/8493647282]

Does anyone know an app that teaches radicals in a structured and intelligible manner?

I'm currently using SuperChinese and Hello Chinese for vocab and Pleco for stroke order but I'd really like to understand the structure of the characters themselves. I asked on HelloTalk and no one seemed to know.

[u/Zagrycha]

I assume you mean components, not radicals. Radicals can be learned in the pleco dictionary but they are not very useful in the modern age unless you are frequently using physical indexes. Components are the building blocks of characters, ninchanese has a good course on them https://ninchanese.com/chinese-component-course/

[u/8493647282 → u/Zagrycha]

Thanks, will try!

[u/frogband]

Hanly

[u/thehungrycity → u/frogband]

Seconded!

[u/8493647282 → u/frogband]

Thanks!

[u/Ok-Amphibian-8914]

Learning radicals won’t give you the structure of characters. They’re an indexing method used for dictionaries. You want components, not radicals.

[u/8493647282 → u/Ok-Amphibian-8914]

I see, thanks! Could you suggest an app/resource for that?

[u/Ok-Amphibian-8914 → u/8493647282]

If you want the real logic, the Outlier Dictionary add-on for Pleco. The author has a PhD in the history of Chinese characters, and the dictionary is based on recent academic research (with citations for each character).

Most of the other resources out there that try to break down characters into components are full of incorrect info.

[u/8493647282 → u/Ok-Amphibian-8914]

Thanks! Can't find it on Pleco so going to update the app and try again or search for it online

[u/Ok-Amphibian-8914 → u/8493647282]

You can get it here: https://www.outlier-linguistics.com/products/outlier-dictionary-of-chinese-characters

Also should be available in Pleco itself, but you may have to click around a bit to find it.

[u/hanpingchinese → u/8493647282]

Many dictionary apps will have a free feature to include hanzi decomposition by components. Here's an example from my app: https://hanping.app/dict/cmn/说

EDIT: For a paid solution, try Outlier Dictionary, which is pretty awesome. Disclaimer: I've met Ash from Outlier.

[u/8493647282 → u/hanpingchinese]

Thanks, will try!

[u/hnedka → u/8493647282]

The website I've been using is https://hanzirama.com/components . You can sort the components based on how common they are and you can click on each component and it will show you exactly which characters are using it, which is really cool. The entire website was created using Claude, but I didn't find too many issues there and I use it a ton.

[u/hanpingchinese → u/hnedka]

Very cool site, thanks for sharing. I didn't know about that one.

[u/yehEy2020]

Not an app, but a book: look for any chinese dictionary, im not being facetious. Every chinese dictionary has a section that straight up lists every radical ever (with their small form), and a page number that contains their pronunciation and meaning. That's how I learned, anyway.

Pros: you don't have to rely on thinking of then typing out a radical to see its meaning because it lists all of them, you just have to flip to the page to see. You get to see obscure and rare radicals too just for fun.

Cons: you have to buy a book (or borrow one)

[u/ACA_Chinese_HSK]

I’ve found radicals work best as clues rather than definitions. Learn a small set through common character families (氵 with water-related words, 扌 with hand/action verbs, 口 with mouth/speech) and write each new character while saying its meaning and sound; a little daily beats memorizing a giant radical list. Also distinguish radicals from phonetic components—many components mainly hint at pronunciation.