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:

次

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 1

次 (cì)

next, second, time (classifier)

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (次)

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

4 Active Tones

Tone 1zī

Tone 2cí

Tone 4cì

Tone 5

Family Characters (11)

Root: 次

次

cì

HSK 1

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

next, second, time (classifier)

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资

zī

HSK 3

贝(shell)

resources, capital, to provide

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咨

zī

HSK 6

口(mouth)

to consult; to seek advice

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姿

zī

HSK 7

女(woman)

beauty; disposition

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瓷

cí

HSK 7

瓦(tile)

porcelain

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佽

cì

Expansion

亻(person)

surname Ci; nimble

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恣

zì

Expansion

心(heart)

to abandon restraint; to do as one pleases

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粢

zī

Expansion

米(rice)

common millet

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絘

cì

Expansion

糹(silk)

ancient tax in the form of bales of cloth

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茨

cí

Expansion

艹(plants)

Caltrop or puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris); to thatch (a roof)

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資

Expansion

貝(shell)

—

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