Quote:
Originally Posted by delacroix01
Recently while learning the last few dozens jouyou kanji, I've began to pay attention to the main radical of each kanji (not sure if I'm calling it correctly) so that I can memorize similar-looking kanji better. I noticed that kanji such as 板, 版 and 飯 have the same on-reading, that the only difference between them is the radical shown in dictionaries, and they all return to a simpler kanji with the same on-reading when I remove the main radical.
Now my question is : Are these radicals just for organizing words in dictionaries, or do they have more functions?
This has been on my mind for a while, so I'm really looking forward to hear from advanced learners and native speakers. Thanks in advance  |
There are five categories of kanji, and one category is, I think, one in which one half hints at pronunciation and the other half hints at meaning. Something like that.
Here, 板 has the tree radical, and it means "board" or "plank" (of wood, which comes from a tree. 版 has the tree-fragment radical, and it means "edition" or "version" (see the sliiiiight hint at meaning there?). 飯 has the "eat" radical and it means "food" or "rice" or "meal" (see the meaning hint there?).
Then, as you discovered, the other half of each kanji hints at pronunciation.