Knife Radical (刂) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
刂 is the knife radical. It appears in 38 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.
Free · No sign-up · US Letter PDF
What does 刂 mean?
Knife radical · 刀 dāo · 2 strokes · knife, blade
As a radical it is called 立刀旁 (lì dāo páng).
It usually appears on the right (刂), or elsewhere (刀). 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.
12 common characters with 刂
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 到 | dào | go to, reach, arrive | 刂 supplies the sound |
| 分 | fēn | divide, separate, differentiate; distribute | Pieces 八 being further subdivided with a knife 刀 |
| 别 | bié | [negative imperative] don’t, had better not | To draw boundaries 刂 between classes 另 |
| 解 | jiě | untie, undo; explain, solve | To cut 刀 the horns 角 off of an ox 牛; 角 also provides the pronunciation |
| 制 | zhì | make, manufacture | 巾 supplies the sound |
| 利 | lì | advantage; benefit, profit, gain | Harvesting 刂 grain 禾 |
| 师 | shī | teacher; person with a particular professional skill; division | To skillfully wield 帀 a knife 刂 |
| 切 | qiè | cut, carve | 七 supplies the sound |
| 则 | zé | [indicating cause, condition, contrast, etc.] then | Laws inscribed 刂 on a slate 贝 |
| 刚 | gāng | just, barely; just now | 冈 supplies the sound |
| 初 | chū | elementary, just beginning; first | Cutting 刀 the cloth 衤 is the first step in making clothes |
| 创 | chuàng | achieve, set (a record) | 仓 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 冖Cover radical · mì18 common characters · a cover
- 冫Ice radical · bīng14 common characters · ice; cold
- 几Table radical · jī12 common characters · a small table
- 力Force radical · lì28 common characters · force, strength
- 匕Dagger radical · bǐ11 common characters · spoon; dagger
- 十Ten radical · shí33 common characters · ten; a cross shape
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.