Phonetic Families & Components

Sound Roots & Semantic Radicals Explorer

Decode Chinese characters by their shared sound roots and see how semantic radicals split their meanings across tones.

Popular Roots:

不

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 1

不 (bù)

not; no

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (不)

How this root's pronunciation drifts across the Mandarin tone spectrum:

4 Active Tones

Tone 1bēi

Tone 2huán

Tone 4bù

Tone 5

Family Characters (8)

Root: 不

不

bù

HSK 1

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

not; no

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坏

huài

HSK 1

土(earth)

bad, spoiled, broken

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杯

bēi

HSK 1

木(tree)

cup

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环

huán

HSK 3

王(jade)

ring / hoop / loop / to surround

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怀

huái

HSK 4

忄(heart)

bosom, heart, mind, to think of, to harbor

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盃

Expansion

皿(dish)

—

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罘

fú

Expansion

罒(net)

place name

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钚

bù

Expansion

钅(metal)

plutonium (chemistry)

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