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:

式

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 3

式 (shì)

type

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (式)

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

2 Active Tones

Tone 4shì

Tone 5

Family Characters (8)

Root: 式

式

shì

HSK 3

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

type

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试

shì

HSK 1

讠(speech)

to test, to try

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弑

shì

Expansion

杀(murder)

to murder a superior; to murder one's parent

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弒

Expansion

杀(murder)

—

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拭

shì

Expansion

扌(hand)

to wipe

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試

Expansion

言(speech)

—

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軾

Expansion

車(car)

—

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轼

shì

Expansion

车(car)

(literary) handrail at the front of a carriage or chariot; to bow while leaning on this handrail as a gesture of respect

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