Chinese character families
Lots of characters share a part, and the part tells you what they are about or how they sound. Tap a part to meet its family.
English and pinyin are hidden so you think in Chinese. Tap a blurred word to peek.
Same meaning
Same sound
The 口 family (mouth)
Things you do with your mouth.
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eat
Mouth for the meaning, 乞 for the sound.
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drink
Mouth for the meaning, 曷 for the sound.
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question word
A spoken sound that sounds like mǎ. Put 吗 at the end of a sentence to make it a question.
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ask
A mouth at the door: asking. The door 门 gives the sound.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 女 family (woman)
Mums, girls and family.
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mum
A woman, sounding like mǎ: mā, mum. The horse is only there for its sound.
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she
The same as 他, with the person swapped for a woman. It was coined only in the 1910s and 1920s, when writers wanted a word for "she". Spoken, he and she sound identical.
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good
A woman with her child. A mother and child together is good. You say it in 你好, hello.
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safe, peaceful
A woman under a roof: at home and safe.
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mother
The woman 女 with two dots added for the breasts: a mother nursing her child.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 亻 family (person)
People, and what people do.
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you
A person, plus 尔, which was itself the classical word for "you" and gives the sound.
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he
A person, with 也 giving the sound. Compare 她.
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plural marker
People, sounding like mén. Add it after 我, 你 or 他 to make "we", "you all" and "they".
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rest
A person leaning against a tree: taking a rest.
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trust; letter
A person standing next to their word: someone who keeps their word can be trusted. A letter carries your word to someone.
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north
Two people standing back to back. It first meant "back"; north is the side you turn your back on when you face the warm southern sun.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 木 family (tree)
Trees, wood and plants.
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woods
Two trees make a wood. Add a third and you get 森, a forest.
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forest
Three trees: more trees than you can count, a forest. Chinese often uses three of something to mean "many".
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rest
A person leaning against a tree: taking a rest.
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root, origin; book
A tree with an extra stroke pointing at its roots. The root is where a thing begins, so 本 means "origin". It is also the counting word for books.
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east
Traditionally explained as the sun 日 rising behind a tree 木, which you can see in the traditional 東. The sun rises in the east. (The very earliest forms may show a tied sack.)
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tea
A person between the plants and the trees: leaves picked from a bush.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 日 family (sun)
Light, days and time.
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bright
The sun and the moon side by side: the two brightest things in the sky. 明天 means tomorrow, the next bright day.
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time, hour
The sun tells the time. The sound part was 寺 in the traditional 時; simplification kept only its bottom, 寸.
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east
Traditionally explained as the sun 日 rising behind a tree 木, which you can see in the traditional 東. The sun rises in the east. (The very earliest forms may show a tied sack.)
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 宀 family (roof)
Under a roof: home.
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home, family
A pig under a roof. Ancient households kept their pigs close, so a roof with a pig meant a home.
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safe, peaceful
A woman under a roof: at home and safe.
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character, word
A child under a roof, with 子 also giving the sound. Characters were seen as offspring, born from combining simpler ones, just as you are seeing here.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 子 family (child)
Children, and learning.
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good
A woman with her child. A mother and child together is good. You say it in 你好, hello.
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character, word
A child under a roof, with 子 also giving the sound. Characters were seen as offspring, born from combining simpler ones, just as you are seeing here.
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study
A child under a roof, with a teacher's hands above, much clearer in the traditional 學. Learning in a schoolhouse.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 艹 family (grass)
Grass, flowers and leaves.
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grass
Grass on top, 早 underneath for the sound.
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flower
A plant that changes: a bud turning into a bloom. 化 gives the sound too.
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tea
A person between the plants and the trees: leaves picked from a bush.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 讠 family (speech)
Talking and words.
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speak, say
The speech radical, with 兑 hinting at the sound.
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speech, words
Speech and a tongue: what the tongue says. 说话 means to talk.
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please; invite
Speech for the meaning, 青 for the sound. A polite spoken request.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 止 family (foot)
Feet: walking and going.
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foot
A leg: the knee cap at the top and a foot below.
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walk
A person swinging their arms above a foot. It first meant "run"; in modern Mandarin it means walk.
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go out
Early forms show a foot stepping out of a pit or doorway. Over centuries the shape turned into two stacked mountains. 出口 is an exit.
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straight, correct
A foot heading straight for a line: going directly to the goal, so "straight" and "correct".
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 目 family (eye)
Eyes: looking and seeing.
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look
A hand held over the eye, shading it to look into the distance.
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see, meet
In the traditional 見, a big eye on top of a pair of legs: a person whose whole being is looking. Simplified 见 keeps the outline. 再见 means "see again", goodbye.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 月 family (moon or meat)
Sometimes the moon, sometimes meat.
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bright
The sun and the moon side by side: the two brightest things in the sky. 明天 means tomorrow, the next bright day.
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have
A hand holding a piece of meat. In hard times, having meat meant having.
Before you peek at the English: what do you think each one is about?
The 马 family (mǎ)
These sound like "ma".
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mum
A woman, sounding like mǎ: mā, mum. The horse is only there for its sound.
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question word
A spoken sound that sounds like mǎ. Put 吗 at the end of a sentence to make it a question.
Say them out loud. Can you hear the shared sound?
The 门 family (mén)
These sound like "men".
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plural marker
People, sounding like mén. Add it after 我, 你 or 他 to make "we", "you all" and "they".
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ask
A mouth at the door: asking. The door 门 gives the sound.
Say them out loud. Can you hear the shared sound?
The 也 family (yě)
These both say "tā".
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he
A person, with 也 giving the sound. Compare 她.
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she
The same as 他, with the person swapped for a woman. It was coined only in the 1910s and 1920s, when writers wanted a word for "she". Spoken, he and she sound identical.
Say them out loud. Can you hear the shared sound?
About character families
What is a Chinese character family?
A group of characters that share a part. Characters with 女 (woman), like 妈 (mum) and 她 (she), are about women and family. Characters with 马 (mǎ), like 妈 (mā) and 吗 (ma), share a sound instead.
How do character families help children learn Chinese?
Children start to guess what a new character means, or how it sounds, from the parts they already know. That builds the habit of reading characters as ideas instead of memorising each one as a separate shape.