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:

门

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 1

门 (mén)

door, gate, family

View Root Character Page Kangxi #169 (门) · View Radical

Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (门)

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

5 Active Tones

Tone 1mēn

Tone 2mén

Tone 3mǐn

Tone 4wèn

Tone 5men

Family Characters (12)

Root: 门

门

mén

HSK 1

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

door, gate, family

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们

men

HSK 1

亻(person)

plural marker for pronouns and nouns referring to individuals

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问

wèn

HSK 1

口(mouth)

to ask

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闻

wén

HSK 2

耳(ear)

to hear, news, smell

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闷

mēn

HSK 7

心(heart)

stuffy

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扪

mén

Expansion

扌(hand)

lay hands on; to cover

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蔺

lìn

Expansion

艹(plants)

surname Lin; juncus effusus

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訚

yín

Expansion

言(speech)

surname Yin; respectful

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钔

mén

Expansion

钅(metal)

mendelevium (chemistry)

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闰

rùn

Expansion

王(jade)

intercalary; an extra day or month inserted into the lunar or solar calendar (such as February 29)

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闵

mǐn

Expansion

文(culture)

surname Min; old variant of 憫|悯[min3]

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闽

mǐn

Expansion

虫(insect)

short name for Fujian province 福建[Fu2 jian4]; also pr. [Min2]

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