Kanji - Level 2 - Radicals

Question 1

本

Answer 1

Book
There’s a cut right at the base of this tree. Why would someone cut down a tree? To make a book out of it! Imagine living in the old days when you’d have to cut down a tree yourself to write or read a book.

Question 2

弓

Answer 2

Bow
This radical looks like a fancy composite bow people would use to shoot at targets and definitely not any normal living animals. See how the middle part is being pulled back? Imagine holding this bow and firing it at a target shaped like a giant alligator-crab monster.

Question 3

子

Answer 3

Child
This radical is made up of two barbs and one ground radical. If there are barbs on the ground, whom (especially) do you want to avoid that area? You want your child to avoid it, since children are so careless and often don’t wear shoes. Imagine how bad you’d feel if you let a child walk around on top of these barbs! Pretty bad, I imagine.

Question 4

牛

Answer 4

Cow
There’s a cross and a gun, with the gun going through the cross. You’re using the cross to stabilize your gun, because you need to shoot a cow for dinner. You bring your cross because you need to bless the cow once you’ve killed it (and it’s also a good stand for your gun). Poor cow.

Question 5

土

Answer 5

Dirt
There’s a cross drawn on the ground, making this dirt. You can draw anything in the dirt, it just happens to be a cross this time. Imagine drawing a cross in the dirt with your finger. Feel the dirt get stuck under your fingernail and never forget.

Question 6

犬

Answer 6

Dog
Remember the big guy that helped you remember the big radical? Now the big guy has something on his shoulder… what is that? You look and see that he has a dog up there, perched as if it were a parrot or a cat or something. Dogs aren’t supposed to be up on people’s shoulders like that, but for him? It works!

Question 6

夕

Answer 6

Evening
Do you see the prison and drop radicals making up this radical? This prison is holding onto a drop because it’s the evening. Evening air does a better job of holding on to drops of liquid like this, which is why everything is covered in dew in the morning.

Question 6

火

Answer 6

Fire
See the person radical here? It’s got things coming off of it… what are those things—OH MY GOD IT’S FIRE!!! Help, help! Put the fire out!

Question 6

目

Answer 6

Eye
See the iris in the middle of the eyeball? Remember that there are no round things in kanji, so square things take their place. That makes this a pretty realistic, square eye. You just have to squint with your real eyes a bit.

Question 7

五

Answer 7

Five
If you use your imagination, this radical actually looks like the number “5.” You have to remove the vertical line in the bottom left, but once you do that, you have an easy way to remember that this radical means five.

Question 8

尸

Answer 8

Flag
See the flag in this radical? There’s a pole with a flag on the end of it, blowing in the wind. Basically, this radical looks just like a flag.

Question 9

彡

Answer 9

Hair
These three streaks flowing off to the side are three strands of hair. Pretty easy to see and remember, right?

Question 10

手

Answer 10

Hand
This one’s a little tough to picture, but I believe in you. The barb in the middle is the wrist/arm. Then, there are four regular fingers coming off of it and then one big thumb (the slide radical at the top). So you have four fingers, a thumb, and a wrist. This is what makes up your crazy looking hand.

Question 11

冂

Answer 11

Head
This is the kind of head a child might draw—can you imagine it with eyes, nose, mouth, and ears too? Whoever’s head this is, it’s really square. Maybe it’s the head of a famous spongy cartoon character. Hmm.

Question 12

天

Answer 12

Heaven
There is a two radical and a person radical. The first level of a person’s life is on earth. The second level (this level, which is why there’s a two radical here) is in heaven. So when you see a person at level 2, you know they’re in heaven.

Question 13

王

Answer 13

King
This radical is not something anyone can have. Only a king can wear this crown upon his head. This radical is the sign of kings. Imagine your favorite king wearing this on their head. It’s a pretty distinctive shape—I think you can do it.

Question 14

丆

Answer 14

Leaf
There’s a leaf on top and a stem going down out of it, making it the leaf radical. It looks kind of like a lilypad, sitting on top of the water with its stem going down to the bottom where the dirt is.

Question 15

儿

Answer 15

Legs
This radical already looks like a pair of legs. There’s even feet on these legs (unlike the fins radical, which you learned earlier). That’s how you know these are legs and not fins (or something else).

Question 16

中

Answer 16

Middle
There’s a stick going right through the middle of someone’s mouth! Imagine that mouth being yours. Measure the placement of the stick. Perfectly aligned, right in the middle. That’s amazing, though to be honest, you probably have bigger problems than measuring the location of this stick in your mouth.

Question 17

月

Answer 17

Moon
The moon is actually made of the sun, but it has little legs coming off of it leaning towards the left. Why? Because the moon is always running away from the sun as fast as it can. It doesn’t want to get caught on fire, so it has to run to stay ahead!

Question 18

ナ

Answer 18

Narwhal
This radical looks like the katakana character ナ (na), which we’re going to say stands for narwhal. Plus, this radical kind of looks like a narwhal, right? The body and head on the bottom, and the single majestic narwhal horn coming out the top, shooting up out of the water and into the air. Oh, and don’t confuse this radical with treasure. The sideways line for narwhal (ナ) is horizontal, the sideways line for treasure is at more of a downward angle (メ), like an “X.”

Question 19

ム

Answer 19

Private
This is a little triangle that’s almost completely closed off. When you want to be alone, you hide in a place where you can be in private. That’s why this is the private radical. You’re closing yourself off to the rest of the world, with just a little peephole.

Question 20

田

Answer 20

Rice Paddy
Rice paddies are made up of fields with irrigation lines going between them. See the four rice paddies with water flowing between and around them? That’s why this radical is rice paddy.

Question 21

小

Answer 21

Small
You have fins and you have a barb. A fish that you can stick an entire barb through like this would have to be really small, since it’s sticking through the whole fish body (which you can imagine by basing the body off the size of the fins compared to the already small barb.)

Question 22

立

Answer 22

Stand
Two sticks are propping up a lid. By doing this, they’re making it stand up.

Question 23

又

Answer 23

Stool
This looks just like a fold-out stool, amiright?

Question 24

止

Answer 24

Stop
There’s a giant toe and a stick in the ground in front of you. You’re driving your car toward them, but you don’t see them until your lights hit them. What would these things cause you to do? Most likely stop your car right away.

Question 25

丁

Answer 25

Street
There’s a barb under the ground, holding it in place. This is actually a street. All streets have to be secured to the ground with barbs so that they don’t slide all over the place. If you tried to pick up the asphalt streets we have today, you’d still find barbs under the ground to keep them there. The more you know! ⭐

Question 26

刀

Answer 26

Sword
If you look at this radical, it looks like the bottom part of a sword—the handle, more specifically. This radical also looks a lot like the power radical (力), so don’t get them confused. It’s missing the little nubbin at the top, because 90% of the power comes from the sword to cut your enemies down (which is why the sword radical is 90% of the power radical).

Question 27

千

Answer 27

Thousand
You’re in a room, surrounded by slides. Down off the slides tumble cross after cross after cross. They’re bouncing in and hitting you in the face, the arm, everywhere… With each cross comes a voice yelling, “ONE! TWO! THREE HUNDRED! FIVE HUNDRED!” and so on. You are worried it will never end, because you’re starting to drown in the crosses. Then the voice yells out ONE THOUSAND and they stop. Still, you can’t move. Think about all the numbers being called out, and keep wondering if it’ll be the last one. Feel the relief you’d feel if it stops on a thousand, because you won’t be buried anymore. The thousand crosses are covering you entirely, over your head, but because they’re crosses you can still breathe.

Question 28

メ

Answer 28

Treasure
This radical is treasure because “X marks the spot,” as they say. Doesn’t it look like the X on a pirate treasure map? You want to go find that treasure now, right?!

Question 29

水

Answer 29

Water
There are drops of liquid coming out of both sides of this barb. You can imagine the barb being stuck into the ground then pulled out. When it is, water comes gushing out of both sides! That’s why this radical is water.

Question 30

白

Answer 30

White
Add a drop of the sun to something and it will turn it white. The sun is really strong, so even a single drop will burn anything white. Why do you think so many beaches are white? Even the drops of sunblock you use to stop the sun’s rays is white. So when you think of sun drops, think white.

Question 31

文

Answer 31

Writing
This looks like a stool with a lid on it, but it’s actually a writing desk. Do you see it? It’s a nice, quiet place for writing. You can even see the pen sticking up in the middle. Wouldn’t you want to do your writing here?