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Chinese radicals quiz: test 11 core radicals

This free quiz checks 11 core radicals and their common variants: 火 水 木 土 山 耳 足 口 手 人 心. Each question asks for the meaning of a component, and each answer comes with a short explanation.

Before you start

The quiz asks what a radical or variant means, not how a whole character is pronounced. If you see 氵, the answer is water. That does not mean characters containing 氵 are read shuǐ: 河 is hé and 洗 is xǐ. Keeping meaning and reading separate is the most useful habit you can build at this stage.

Take the quiz

Choose one answer per question, then check your score.

Question 1 What does 灬 mean?
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灬 represents fire. The full form is 火, pronounced huǒ.

Question 2 What does 氵 mean?
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氵 represents water. The full form is 水, pronounced shuǐ.

Question 3 What does 木 mean?
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木 represents wood. The full form is 木, pronounced mù.

Question 4 What does 土 mean?
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土 represents earth. The full form is 土, pronounced tǔ.

Question 5 What does 山 mean?
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山 represents mountain. The full form is 山, pronounced shān.

Question 6 What does 耳 mean?
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耳 represents ear. The full form is 耳, pronounced ěr.

Question 7 What does ⻊ mean?
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⻊ represents foot. The full form is 足, pronounced zú.

Question 8 What does 口 mean?
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口 represents mouth. The full form is 口, pronounced kǒu.

Question 9 What does 扌 mean?
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扌 represents hand. The full form is 手, pronounced shǒu.

Question 10 What does 亻 mean?
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亻 represents person. The full form is 人, pronounced rén.

Question 11 What does 忄 mean?
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忄 represents heart. The full form is 心, pronounced xīn.

Your score reflects only these 11 radicals. It is not a proficiency level, an HSK result, or a measure of how well you read Chinese overall. It simply shows which of these shapes you can recognize today.

Warm-up: variants

Several questions use variant forms. Try this first if variants are new to you. Match each variant to its full form: 亻 扌 氵 忄 灬 ⻊.

Show answers
  • 亻: 人 rén, person
  • 扌: 手 shǒu, hand
  • 氵: 水 shuǐ, water
  • 忄: 心 xīn, heart
  • 灬: 火 huǒ, fire
  • ⻊: 足 zú, foot

土 and 木 narrow when placed on the left, but keep the same basic shape. 山, 耳, and 口 have no common variant in this set.

Reference card

The 11 quiz radicals
RadicalPinyinMeaning
火 / 灬huǒfire
水 / 氵shuǐwater
木mùtree, wood
土tǔearth, soil
山shānmountain
耳ěrear
足 / ⻊zúfoot
口kǒumouth
手 / 扌shǒuhand
人 / 亻rénperson
心 / 忄xīnheart

After the quiz

  1. Note your misses. Write down every radical you got wrong or hesitated on.
  2. Study the lookalikes. If you mixed up 扌 and 才, read the hand radical guide. If 氵 and 冫 caused trouble, read the water radical guide.
  3. Drill the gaps. Review the matching cards in the flashcard deck over the next few days.
  4. Retake in a week. Compare which radicals you now answer instantly.
  5. Expand. Once all 11 feel easy, move on to the 20-radical starter list, which adds 女 子 日 月 目 and more.

Keep practicing

References and further reading