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:

兼

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 7

兼 (jiān)

simultaneous

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (兼)

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

4 Active Tones

Tone 1jiān

Tone 2xián

Tone 4qiàn

Tone 5

Family Characters (12)

Root: 兼

兼

jiān

HSK 7

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

simultaneous

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嫌

xián

HSK 6

女(woman)

to dislike, suspicion, resentment

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歉

qiàn

HSK 6

欠(yawn)

apologize

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谦

qiān

HSK 6

讠(speech)

modest

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赚

zhuàn

HSK 6

贝(shell)

to earn, to make a profit

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慊

qiàn

Expansion

忄(heart)

dissatisfied

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缣

jiān

Expansion

纟(silk)

thick waterproof silk

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蒹

jiān

Expansion

艹(plants)

reed

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謙

Expansion

言(speech)

—

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賺

Expansion

貝(shell)

—

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鶼

Expansion

鳥(bird)

—

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鹣

jiān

Expansion

鸟(bird)

mythical bird with one eye and one wing; see also 鰈鶼|鲽鹣[die2 jian1]

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