Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals – Analyzing Characters with the Mouth Radical

Grouping Chinese characters with similar meaningful parts can help when learning to write them. Today, we’ll focus on characters with the 口 (kǒu) radical.

The ancient form of 口 resembled an open mouth. To write this character, start with a vertical stroke (丨 – shù), then add a horizontal turning stroke, and finish with a second horizontal stroke (一 – héng).

The most obvious meaning of 口 is “mouth.” However, it can also mean an opening or a gate in a city wall, or even a big jar. This is why the character for “product” or “goods” looks like three 口 stacked together: 品 (pǐn).

As a radical, 口 often appears on the left side of a character, but it can also be an upper or lower component. Characters with this radical usually relate to the mouth or its functions:

• 吃 (chī) – to eat
• 喝 (hē) – to drink
• 吐 (tǔ) – to spit
• 咳嗽 (késòu) – to cough
• 叫 (jiào) – to call
• 告 (gào) – to tell

To exclaim something, one usually needs to open their mouth. This might be why the 口 radical appears in many Chinese exclamative particles. For example:

• 你好吗？ (Nǐ hǎo ma?) – Are you fine?
• 我们去北京吧！ (Wǒmen qù Běijīng ba!) – Let’s go to Beijing!
• 我很累，你呢？ (Wǒ hěn lèi, nǐ ne?) – I am tired, what about you?
• 哈哈，我差点笑死了。 (Hā hā, wǒ chàdiǎn xiào sǐ le.) – Haha, I almost died laughing.

To deepen your understanding of Chinese characters and their components, explore additional resources and methods. Check out this comprehensive list of Chinese characters and learn about effective strategies for writing Chinese characters. For a structured approach, consider the topic-oriented method, which can help you efficiently learn hundreds of characters. Finally, make use of various resources for learning Chinese characters to support your study and practice.