Kanji Kickstart: What Kanji Are Made Of (Radicals and Components)

Kanji Are Built from Reusable Parts

Most kanji are not “drawn from scratch.” They are assembled from recurring visual parts that appear again and again across different characters. Learning to notice these parts makes kanji easier to read, write, and remember because you stop seeing a complex symbol and start seeing a small set of familiar building blocks.

Radicals vs. Components (What’s the Difference?)

Radicals (部首) are a recognized set of parts used for dictionary indexing and classification. A radical often gives a broad meaning-hint (for example, water-related, person-related), but not always. Each kanji is typically assigned one official radical for indexing, even if you could plausibly “choose” another part.

Components are any recurring shapes you can spot inside kanji. Some components are also radicals; many are not. Components are a practical learner concept: if a shape repeats across kanji, treat it as a reusable chunk—even if it isn’t the official radical.

• Radical = official indexing part (often semantic category, not guaranteed).
• Component = any recurring sub-shape you can reuse for recognition and memory.
• One kanji can contain multiple components, but is usually indexed under one radical.

How to Visually Segment a Kanji (Common Layout Patterns)

When you “take apart” a kanji, start by identifying its overall layout. Most beginner kanji fit a small number of patterns.

1) Left–Right (⿰)

The kanji is split vertically into a left part and a right part.

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• Examples: 休, 明, 語

How to mark it: draw a light vertical divider in your mind (or on paper) and label the left component and the right component.

2) Top–Bottom (⿱)

The kanji is split horizontally into a top part and a bottom part.

• Examples: 学, 空, 音

How to mark it: draw a light horizontal divider and label top vs bottom.

3) Enclosure (surrounding shapes)

One component “wraps” around another. Common enclosure shapes include boxes, partial frames, and wrapping strokes.

• Examples: 国 (enclosure around inner part), 同, 問

How to mark it: identify the “frame” component first, then the inside component.

4) Stacked / Multi-part (three or more chunks)

Some kanji combine more than two components, often in a left–right structure where one side is itself top–bottom, or in a top–bottom structure with an internal split.

• Examples: 語 (left component + right side that contains sub-parts), 森 (repeated component), 飲 (multiple nested parts)

How to mark it: find the biggest split first (left–right or top–bottom), then split the remaining complex side into smaller chunks.

A Simple “Segmentation Checklist” (Step-by-step)

1. Find the outer shape: Is there an enclosure or frame?
2. Find the biggest split: left–right or top–bottom?
3. Circle repeating shapes: Have you seen any chunk before in other kanji?
4. Label roles (optional): which part seems meaning-related (semantic) and which part seems sound-related (phonetic)?
5. Accept leftovers: some parts are just shapes you recognize; they may not have a standalone meaning.

Guided Marking Practice (Beginner Kanji)

For each kanji below, do two things: (1) identify the layout pattern, (2) mark the components by drawing boxes or brackets around each part. If you’re writing on paper, lightly pencil the boundaries first.

Example 1: 休 (left–right)

Step 1 — Layout: left–right.

Step 2 — Mark parts:

• Left: 亻 (person variant of 人)
• Right: 木 (tree)

What to notice: 亻 is a common radical/component on the left side of many kanji. Even if you don’t attach a story, recognizing 亻 quickly narrows what you’re seeing.

Example 2: 明 (left–right)

Step 1 — Layout: left–right.

Step 2 — Mark parts:

• Left: 日
• Right: 月

Practice prompt: Write 明 three times. Each time, pause and point to the left part and the right part before you finish the character.

Example 3: 好 (left–right)

Step 1 — Layout: left–right.

Step 2 — Mark parts:

• Left: 女
• Right: 子

What to notice: Components can be full kanji (like 女, 子) or smaller variants in other characters. Your goal is visual recognition first.

Example 4: 学 (top–bottom)

Step 1 — Layout: top–bottom.

Step 2 — Mark parts: many learners segment it as a top “roof-like” part and a bottom part.

• Top: a small cluster (often treated as a component even if you don’t name it)
• Bottom: 子

Important clarification: not every chunk you mark has a clean standalone meaning. It’s still useful as a visual handle.

Example 5: 国 (enclosure)

Step 1 — Layout: enclosure.

Step 2 — Mark parts:

• Outside frame: 囗 (enclosure radical; note: different from 口)
• Inside: 玉 (often appears in compressed form inside)

Practice prompt: Draw the enclosure first as a “container,” then place the inner component. This mirrors how enclosure kanji are often easiest to write and recognize.

Example 6: 語 (multi-part with a clear left component)

Step 1 — Biggest split: left–right.

Step 2 — Mark parts:

• Left: 言 (often appears as the left-side variant 訁)
• Right: 吾 (a recurring component in some kanji)

Step 3 — Optional deeper split: if you want, you can further segment the right side into smaller chunks, but don’t over-split at the beginning. Aim for 2–3 chunks you can reliably recognize.

Semantic vs. Phonetic Roles (And Why Some Parts “Don’t Mean Anything”)

Components can play different roles inside a kanji:

• Semantic component: suggests a broad meaning category (often the radical, but not always).
• Phonetic component: suggests the reading (sound) of the kanji; the match can be close, approximate, or historically shifted.
• Purely structural component: a shape that helps form the character but doesn’t reliably contribute meaning or sound for modern learners.

When you segment a kanji, it’s tempting to demand that every part “means something.” Don’t. Your first win is consistent visual chunking. Once you can reliably spot the chunks, you can start noticing patterns like “this right-side component often appears in kanji with similar readings” or “this left-side radical often appears in words from a similar domain.”

Quick Role-Labeling Drill

Take the six kanji above (休 明 好 学 国 語) and do this on paper:

1. Write the kanji once.
2. Draw boundaries around its components.
3. Put S next to the part you think is semantic (meaning-hint), P next to the part you think is phonetic (sound-hint), or ? if you’re not sure.

The goal is not to be “right” every time. The goal is to build the habit of looking for roles while accepting uncertainty—because many components are best learned first as shapes, then later as patterns.

Common Beginner Pitfalls (and Fixes)