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:

台

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 3

台 (tái)

Taiwan (abbr.); surname Tai

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (台)

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

5 Active Tones

Tone 1tāi

Tone 2tái

Tone 3shǐ

Tone 4dài

Tone 5

Family Characters (23)

Root: 台

台

tái

HSK 3

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

Taiwan (abbr.); surname Tai

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始

shǐ

HSK 3

女(woman)

to begin, to start

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抬

tái

HSK 5

扌(hand)

to lift

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怠

dài

HSK 7

心(heart)

idle; lazy

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怡

yí

HSK 7

忄(heart)

harmony, pleased

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胎

tāi

HSK 7

⺼(meat)

fetus

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殆

dài

Expansion

歹(death)

(literary) dangerous; perilous; (literary) almost; well-nigh

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炱

tái

Expansion

火(fire)

soot

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眙

yí

Expansion

目(eye)

place name

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笞

chī

Expansion

⺮(bamboo)

to whip with bamboo strips

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绐

dài

Expansion

纟(silk)

to cheat; to pretend

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苔

tāi

Expansion

艹(plants)

used in 舌苔[she2 tai1]

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詒

Expansion

言(speech)

—

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诒

yí

Expansion

讠(speech)

(archaic) to present; to bequeath

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貽

Expansion

貝(shell)

—

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贻

yí

Expansion

贝(shell)

to present; to bequeath

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跆

tái

Expansion

足(foot)

to trample, to kick

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迨

dài

Expansion

辶(walking)

until; while

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邰

tái

Expansion

阝(city)

surname Tai; name of a feudal state

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飴

Expansion

飠(food)

—

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饴

yí

Expansion

饣(food)

maltose syrup

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骀

tái

Expansion

马(horse)

tired; worn out horse

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鲐

tái

Expansion

鱼(fish)

mackerel; Pacific mackerel (Pneumatophorus japonicus)

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