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:

专

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 3

专 (zhuān)

specialized / focused

Family Characters

HSK Words

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

3 Active Tones

Tone 1zhuān

Tone 2chuán

Tone 3zhuǎi

Root: 专

专

zhuān

HSK 3

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

specialized / focused

传

chuán

HSK 3

to pass on, to transmit, to spread

转

zhuǎi

HSK 3

to turn (specifically used in the idiom zhuǎi wén to show off one's literary skills)

砖

zhuān

HSK 7

variant of 甎|砖[zhuan1]

抟

tuán

Expansion

to roll up into a ball with one's hands (variant of 團|团[tuan2]); (literary) to circle; to wheel