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:

尧

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

尧 (yáo)

surname Yao; Yao or Tang Yao (c. 2200 BC), one of the Five legendary Emperors 五帝[Wu3 Di4], second son of Di Ku 帝嚳|帝喾[Di4 Ku4]

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (尧)

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

4 Active Tones

Tone 1shāo

Tone 2yáo

Tone 3xiǎo

Tone 4rào

Family Characters (18)

Root: 尧

尧

yáo

Expansion

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

surname Yao; Yao or Tang Yao (c. 2200 BC), one of the Five legendary Emperors 五帝[Wu3 Di4], second son of Di Ku 帝嚳|帝喾[Di4 Ku4]

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烧

shāo

HSK 4

火(fire)

to burn, to cook, fever

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绕

rào

HSK 5

纟(silk)

to wind, to coil, to rotate around

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晓

xiǎo

HSK 6

日(sun)

dawn, daybreak, to know

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挠

náo

HSK 7

扌(hand)

to scratch

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浇

jiāo

HSK 7

氵(water)

to pour liquid, irrigate, water

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翘

qiáo

HSK 7

羽(feather)

to raise, outstanding

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饶

ráo

HSK 7

饣(food)

rich, abundant, to forgive, surname Rao

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侥

jiǎo

Expansion

亻(person)

by mere luck

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哓

xiāo

Expansion

口(mouth)

a cry of alarm; querulous

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娆

ráo

Expansion

女(woman)

graceful

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桡

náo

Expansion

木(tree)

(literary) to disturb; (literary) to weaken

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硗

qiāo

Expansion

石(stone)

stony soil

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荛

ráo

Expansion

艹(plants)

fuel; grass

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蛲

náo

Expansion

虫(insect)

parasitic worm; human pinworm (Enterobius vermicularis)

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跷

qiāo

Expansion

足(foot)

to raise one's foot; to stand on tiptoe

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铙

náo

Expansion

钅(metal)

big cymbals

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骁

xiāo

Expansion

马(horse)

good horse; valiant

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