Dagger-axe Radical (戈) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
戈 is the dagger-axe radical. It appears in 13 of the most common Chinese characters — these 12 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 戈 mean?
Dagger-axe radical · 戈 gē · 4 strokes · a dagger-axe (ancient weapon)
It usually appears around the right side 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: 戈
戈 itself: A spear pointing to the bottom-right
12 common characters with 戈
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我 | wǒ | I, me | A hand 扌 holding a weapon 戈 |
| 成 | chéng | become, turn into; succeed | |
| 民 | mín | the people; civilian | An eye 巳 pierced by a dagger 戈, an old mark of slavery |
| 战 | zhàn | fight | 占 supplies the sound |
| 或 | huò | or | To defend yourself 口 with a spear 戈; "or else" |
| 找 | zhǎo | look for | To go searching with a spear 戈 in hand 扌 |
| 划 | huà | row, paddle; scratch, strike; delimit, differentiate; assign | |
| 戏 | xì | drama, play, show | A hand 又 doing tricks with a spear 戈 |
| 裁 | cái | to cut out (as a dress); to cut; to trim; to reduce; to diminish; to c… | To cut 戈 cloth 衣 |
| 戴 | dài | put on, wear | |
| 截 | jié | to cut off (a length); to stop; to intercept; section; chunk; length | A bird 隹 cut off from its nest 十 by a weapon 戈 |
| 戒 | jiè | to guard against; to exhort; to admonish or warn; to give up or stop d… | Two hands 廾 brandishing a spear 戈 |
Related Radicals
- 彡Stripe radical · shān8 common characters · hair, stripes, patterns
- 彳Step radical · chì17 common characters · small steps; to walk
- 忄Heart radical · xīn77 common characters · heart, mind
- 户Door radical · hù11 common characters · a single door; a household
- 扌Hand radical · shǒu131 common characters · hand
- 攵Tap radical · pū23 common characters · a tap; to strike — often marks an action
Create Your Own Chinese Worksheet
The download above is fixed; the generator is not. Turn any character list, sentence or textbook section into a printable worksheet — grid style, paper size and header are yours to pick.