How to Memorise Japanese Kanji Efficiently with Radicals

This article explains, with examples, how radicals of Japanese kanji characters can help you memorise their meanings and pronunciations efficiently!

About Kanji Radicals

Usually, kanji characters can be decomposed into smaller parts called「部首」 (ぶしゅ, bushu), a radical. Many radicals represent certain meanings of kanji characters, and one of such radicals is「氵」(さんずい, sanzui), which represents the meaning of “water”. Here are some examples of kanji characters that contain the 氵 radicle:

• 池 （いけ, ike）: pond
• 海 （うみ, umi）: sea
• 泳ぐ （およぐ, oyogu）: swim
• 港（みなと, minato）: harbour
• 湖（みずうみ, mizuumi）: lake
• 汗（あせ, ase）: sweat
• 涙 (なみだ, namida): teardrop

As you can see, all of these words are more or less related to “water”, and remembering the radical will definitely help you memorise those complicated kanji characters; and that’s how we Japanese people actually learn kanji at elementary school. Unfortunately, however, there are many cases when a radical does not make any sense — in fact, the character 漢 used in 漢字 (かんじ), “kanji”, obviously has nothing to do with water.

Examples

Here are other examples of basic kanji characters grouped by their radicals:

• 「扌」（てへん, tehen）＝ hand 🖐
  拾う (ひろう, hirou):”pick”, 指 (ゆび, yubi): finger, 持つ (もつ, motsu): :have
• 「亻」（にんべん, ninben） = human 🙍‍♂️🙍‍♀️
  体 (からだ): body,  作る (つくる, tsukuru ): make, 住む (すむ, sumu): live
• 「 艹 」（くさかんむり, kusakanmuri ） = grass🌱
  草 (くさ, kusa): grass, 花 (はな, hana) :flower, 葉 (は, ha): leaf

The last radicle “くさかんむり” is written as “草冠” in kanji, where 草 (くさ, kusa) means “grass” and 冠 (かんむり, kanmuri) means “crown”. Radicals that are put at the top of the kanji, like a crown, are usually named “something + 冠” (e.g.) “宀” (ウ冠)  and  “冖” (ワ冠).

About 貝 (かい, kai) radical

貝 (かい, kai) is a kanji character that means “shell”, and it’s also used in other characters as a radical. Different from its original meaning, however, a lot of kanji characters with the 貝 radical are related to money, not a shell! This is because Cowry shells used to be used as currency in ancient China. Here are some examples:

• 買う (かう, kau) : buy
• 貸す (かす, kasu):  lend
• 貯金 (ちょきん, chokin): save money
• 財 (ざい, zai): financial property, asset
• 販売 (はんばい, hanbai): sell
• 賄賂 (わいろ, wairo): bribery

Radical and Pronunciation

Not only do radicals represent the meanings of some kanji characters, but they can also indicate their 音読み (Onyomi) pronunciations. Therefore, by paying attention to radicals/components of kanji, you can even guess the pronunciation of unknown Kanji characters!

Example

Here are some examples of kanji characters that share the same pronunciations and kanji components (not necessarily radicals) at the top or right side:

講　構　購　溝: こう (kou)
適　敵　滴　摘: てき (teki)
玲　冷　怜　令: れい (rei)
照　紹　招　昭: しょう(shou)
盛　誠　成　　: せい (sei)

For instance, 令 (れい, rei), 成 (せい, sei) and 昭 (しょう, shou) are used in the recent three of Japan’s era names, respectively:

• 令和 (れいわ, Reiwa): the current era of Japan (2019 – )
• 平成 (へいせい, Heisei): the previous era of Japan (1989-2019)
• 昭和 (しょうわ, Shōwa): the past era of Japan (1926-1989)

If you’re interested, here is an article that explains the meaning and origin of these names:

Meaning and Origin of Reiwa, Heisei and Shōwa, Japan’s Imperial Eras