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:

帝

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 6

帝 (dì)

emperor

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (帝)

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

3 Active Tones

Tone 2tí

Tone 4dì

Tone 5

Family Characters (10)

Root: 帝

帝

dì

HSK 6

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

emperor

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缔

dì

HSK 7

纟(silk)

(archaic) to bind up inextricably; (bound form) to form an enduring union; to establish (an alliance, a friendship, a nation etc)

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蒂

dì

HSK 7

艹(plants)

stem (of fruit)

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啻

chì

Expansion

口(mouth)

only (classical, usually follows negative or question words); (not) just

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啼

tí

Expansion

口(mouth)

(bound form) to cry; to weep loudly; (bound form) (of a bird or animal) to crow; to hoot; to screech

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碲

dì

Expansion

石(stone)

tellurium (chemistry)

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締

Expansion

糹(thread)

—

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諦

Expansion

言(speech)

—

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谛

dì

Expansion

讠(speech)

to examine; truth (Buddhism)

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蹄

tí

Expansion

足(foot)

hoof; pig's trotters

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