Here are the 11 most common Chinese radicals that you need to learn.
If you are just starting to learn Chinese, then it’s smart to learn these ones first because you will find them in a large number of Chinese characters.
| S | T | Variant | Meaning | Pinyin | Examples | Comments | Colloquial |
| 人 | 人 | 亻 | person | rén | 今仁休位他 | Note similarity with 八, which means eight. | 单人旁（亻），人字头（人） |
| 口 | 口 | mouth, opening | kǒu | 古可名告知 | Note similarity with 囗, which always encloses characters, and means enclosure. | 口字旁 | |
| 土 | 土 | earth | tǔ | 在地型城地 | Note similarity with 士, which has a longer upper stroke and shorter bottom one, and means scholar. | 提土旁 | |
| 女 | 女 | woman, female | nǚ | 好妄始姓安 | 女子旁 | ||
| 心 | 心 | 忄，⺗ | heart | xīn | 必忙忘性想 | 竖心旁（忄），心字底（心），竖心底（⺗） | |
| 手 | 手 | 扌，龵 | hand | shǒu | 持掌打抱押 | 提手旁（扌），看字头（龵），手字旁（手） | |
| 日 | 日 | sun, day | rì | 白百明时晩 | Note similarity with 曰, which is broader and lower, and means to say. Also note 白 which means white. | 日字旁 | |
| 月 | 月 | moon, month | yuè | 有服青朝明 | This radical is actually two: moon 月 and meat 肉, but in modern Chinese, they look the same in most cases。 | 月字旁 | |
| 木 | 木 | tree | mù | 板相根本林 | Note similarity with 禾, which means grain. | 木字旁 | |
| 氵 | 氵 | 水，氺 | water | shuǐ | 永泳海洋沙 | Note similarity with 冫, which means ice. | 水字旁（水），三点水（氵），泰字底水（氺） |
| 火 | 火 | 灬 | fire | huǒ | 灯炎焦然炸 | 火字旁（火），四点底（灬） |
