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:

秦

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

秦 (qín)

surname Qin; Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇[Qin2 Shi3 huang2]

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Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (秦)

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

2 Active Tones

Tone 1zhēn

Tone 2qín

Family Characters (7)

Root: 秦

秦

qín

Expansion

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

surname Qin; Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇[Qin2 Shi3 huang2]

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嗪

qín

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口(mouth)

used in phonetic transcription -xine, -zine or -chin

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榛

zhēn

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木(tree)

(bound form) hazelnut tree (Corylus heterophylla)

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溱

zhēn

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氵(water)

name of a river

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臻

zhēn

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至(arrive)

to arrive; to reach (esp. perfection)

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蓁

zhēn

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艹(plants)

abundant, luxuriant vegetation

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螓

qín

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虫(insect)

small cicada with a square head

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