Cave Radical (穴) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
穴 is the cave radical. It appears in 9 of the most common Chinese characters — these 9 are the ones worth learning first, and the worksheet below gives every one of them a pinyin header, a stroke-by-stroke model and blank Tianzige grids to copy into.
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What does 穴 mean?
Cave radical · 穴 xué · 5 strokes · a cave; a hole
As a radical it is called 穴宝盖 (xué bǎo gài).
It usually appears across the top of the character. The Origin column below shows what each character's parts do — many take their meaning from the radical, some take their sound from the other half.
Shapes: 穴
穴 itself: The mouth of a cave
9 common characters with 穴
Ranked by how often they appear in real written Chinese. Every character links to its own page with a stroke-order animation and example words.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 空 | kōng | empty, hollow; blank; vacant | 工 supplies the sound |
| 究 | jiū | after all; to investigate; to study carefully; Taiwan pr. | 九 supplies the sound |
| 突 | tū | to dash; to move forward quickly; to bulge; to protrude; to break thro… | A dog 犬 rushing out of a cave 穴 |
| 穿 | chuān | wear, put on; bore a hole; cross | 穴 supplies the sound |
| 穷 | qióng | poor | |
| 窗 | chuāng | window | 囱 supplies the sound |
| 窝 | wō | nest | 呙 supplies the sound |
| 窃 | qiè | to steal; secretly; (humble) I | 切 supplies the sound |
| 窄 | zhǎi | narrow | 乍 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 石Stone radical · shí19 common characters · stone
- 礻Spirit radical · shì17 common characters · an altar; spirits; worship
- 禾Grain radical · hé27 common characters · grain; a rice plant
- 立Stand radical · lì14 common characters · to stand
- 米Rice radical · mǐ16 common characters · rice
- 纟Silk radical · sī49 common characters · silk; thread
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