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:

娄

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

娄 (lóu)

surname Lou; one of the 28 lunar mansions in Chinese astronomy

View Root Character Page

Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (娄)

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

4 Active Tones

Tone 1lōu

Tone 2lóu

Tone 3shǔ

Tone 4jù

Family Characters (19)

Root: 娄

娄

lóu

Expansion

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

surname Lou; one of the 28 lunar mansions in Chinese astronomy

Open Deep Dive

楼

lóu

HSK 1

木(tree)

storied building

Open Deep Dive

数

shǔ

HSK 2

攵(strike)

to count

Open Deep Dive

屡

lǚ

HSK 7

尸(body)

repeatedly

Open Deep Dive

搂

lōu

HSK 7

扌(hand)

to draw towards oneself, to hug, to embrace

Open Deep Dive

缕

lǚ

HSK 7

纟(silk)

strand

Open Deep Dive

偻

lóu

Expansion

亻(person)

hunchback

Open Deep Dive

喽

lóu

Expansion

口(mouth)

(bound form) subordinates in a gang of bandits

Open Deep Dive

屦

jù

Expansion

彳(stepping)

sandals

Open Deep Dive

嵝

lǒu

Expansion

山(mountain)

mountain peak

Open Deep Dive

瘘

lòu

Expansion

疒(sickness)

fistula; ulceration

Open Deep Dive

窭

jù

Expansion

穴(cave)

poor; rustic

Open Deep Dive

篓

lǒu

Expansion

⺮(bamboo)

basket

Open Deep Dive

耧

lóu

Expansion

耒(plow)

drill for sowing grain

Open Deep Dive

蒌

lóu

Expansion

艹(plants)

Arthemisia vulgaris; piper betel

Open Deep Dive

蝼

lóu

Expansion

虫(insect)

see 螻蛄|蝼蛄[lou2 gu1]

Open Deep Dive

褛

lǚ

Expansion

衤(clothes)

used in 襤褸|褴褛[lan2 lu : 3]

Open Deep Dive

镂

lòu

Expansion

钅(metal)

to engrave; to carve

Open Deep Dive

髅

lóu

Expansion

骨(bone)

used in 髑髏|髑髅[du2 lou2] and 骷髏|骷髅[ku1 lou2]

Open Deep Dive