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:
巳
Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)
巳 (sì)
6th earthly branch: 9-11 a.m., 4th solar month (5th May-5th June), year of the Snake; ancient Chinese compass point: 150°
4
Family Characters
1
HSK Words
Tone Fan-out (巳)
How this root's pronunciation drifts across the Mandarin tone spectrum:
2 Active Tones
Tone 2yí
Tone 4sì
Family Characters (4)
Root: 巳巳
sì
ExpansionPhonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)
6th earthly branch: 9-11 a.m., 4th solar month (5th May-5th June), year of the Snake; ancient Chinese compass point: 150°