Dry Radical (干) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
干 is the dry radical. It appears in 12 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 干 mean?
Dry radical · 干 gān · 3 strokes · dry; a shield
It usually appears anywhere in 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: 干
干 itself: A club or axe
12 common characters with 干
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 年 | nián | year | A man 干 carrying grain, representing the annual harvest |
| 平 | píng | flat, level, even; calm; average, common | A leveling scale |
| 午 | wǔ | 7th earthly branch: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., noon, 5th solar month (6th June-6t… | |
| 南 | nán | south | A musical bell |
| 赶 | gǎn | catch up with; drive away; rush through; try to catch (train, bus, etc.); rush for | 干 supplies the sound |
| 幸 | xìng | trusted; intimate; (of the emperor) to visit; variant of 幸 | Two men, one alive 土 and one dead 干; the living one is lucky |
| 岸 | àn | bank | A mountain 山 cliff 厂; 干 provides the pronunciation |
| 刊 | kān | to print; to publish; publication; periodical; to peel with a knife; t… | 干 supplies the sound |
| 汗 | hàn | perspiration, sweat | 干 supplies the sound |
| 杆 | gān | pole; CL:条,根 | 干 supplies the sound |
| 肝 | gān | liver (CL:叶); (slang) to put in long hours, typically late into the ni… | 干 supplies the sound |
| 旱 | hàn | drought | The sun 日 baking a desert 干; 干 also provides the pronunciation |
Related Radicals
- 尸Corpse radical · shī15 common characters · corpse; a lying figure
- 山Mountain radical · shān14 common characters · mountain
- 工Work radical · gōng16 common characters · work, craft
- 弓Bow radical · gōng8 common characters · a bow (for shooting)
- 彐Snout radical14 common characters · a snout; a pig's head
- 彡Stripe radical · shān8 common characters · hair, stripes, patterns
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.