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:

念

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 3

念 (niàn)

variant of 念[nian4], to read aloud

View Root Character Page

Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (念)

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

4 Active Tones

Tone 2nián

Tone 3niǎn

Tone 4niàn

Tone 5

Family Characters (7)

Root: 念

念

niàn

HSK 3

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

variant of 念[nian4], to read aloud

Open Deep Dive

唸

Expansion

口(mouth)

—

Open Deep Dive

埝

niàn

Expansion

土(earth)

earth embankment used to hold back or retain water; dike around a paddy field

Open Deep Dive

捻

niǎn

Expansion

扌(hand)

to twirl (in the fingers)

Open Deep Dive

稔

rěn

Expansion

禾(grain)

(literary) ripe grain; ripe; harvest; year; (literary) very familiar with; well acquainted with

Open Deep Dive

鯰

Expansion

魚(fish)

—

Open Deep Dive

鲶

nián

Expansion

鱼(fish)

sheatfish (Parasilurus asotus); oriental catfish

Open Deep Dive