Earth Radical (土) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
土 is the earth radical. It appears in 59 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 土 mean?
Earth radical · 土 tǔ · 3 strokes · earth, soil
It usually appears at the bottom, or on the left. 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: 土
土 itself: A lump of clay on a potter's wheel
12 common characters with 土
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 在 | zài | [indicating location or time, etc.] at, in | 才 supplies the sound |
| 地 | dì | [structural particle introducing an adverbial modifier] | 也 supplies the sound |
| 生 | shēng | give birth to, bear; become (rusty, ill, etc.); light (a fire) | A shoot 屮 growing in the soil 土 |
| 去 | qù | go | |
| 里 | lǐ | in, inside | Unit of measure for farm 田 land 土 |
| 先 | xiān | first, earlier | Someone stepping 止 in front of another person 儿 |
| 场 | chǎng | [measure word for processes or courses of occurrence such as rain, snow, illness, etc.] period, spell; [measure word for recreational or sports activities] show, match | 昜 supplies the sound |
| 走 | zǒu | walk; leave | Someone 土 stepping with their foot 止 |
| 社 | shè | society, club; agency | An earth 土 spirit 礻; 礻 also provides the pronunciation |
| 至 | zhì | arrive, reach | A bird alighting on the ground 土 |
| 城 | chéng | town, city; city wall | 成 supplies the sound |
| 基 | jī | base, foundation | 其 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 又Again radical · yòu38 common characters · again; (originally) a right hand
- 口Mouth radical · kǒu134 common characters · mouth; an opening
- 囗Enclosure radical · wéi13 common characters · an enclosure; walls all around
- 士Scholar radical · shì8 common characters · scholar
- 夂Follow radical · zhǐ11 common characters · to follow; to go slowly
- 夕Evening radical · xī10 common characters · evening; sunset
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.