Metal Radical (钅) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
钅 is the metal radical. It appears in 26 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 钅 mean?
Metal radical · 金 jīn · 8 strokes · gold, metal
As a radical it is called 金字旁 (jīn zì páng).
It usually appears on the left (钅), or at the bottom. 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.
金 itself: A cast-iron bell
12 common characters with 钅
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 钱 | qián | money | 戋 supplies the sound |
| 错 | cuò | wrong, mistaken | Gold 钅 that once was 昔 but is lost |
| 银 | yín | silver | 艮 supplies the sound |
| 铁 | tiě | iron | 失 supplies the sound |
| 钟 | zhōng | clock, bell | 中 supplies the sound |
| 销 | xiāo | sell; fasten (with a bolt) | 肖 supplies the sound |
| 针 | zhēn | pin, needle; stitch; injection | A metal 钅 pin 十 |
| 镇 | zhèn | town, township | 真 supplies the sound |
| 镜 | jìng | mirror; glasses | 竟 supplies the sound |
| 键 | jiàn | key (on a piano or computer keyboard); button (on a mouse or other dev… | 建 supplies the sound |
| 钢 | gāng | steel | 冈 supplies the sound |
| 铺 | pù | spread; pave; make (bed) | 甫 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 车Vehicle radical · chē18 common characters · cart, vehicle
- 辶Go radical · chuò53 common characters · to walk, to go; movement
- 酉Wine radical · yǒu8 common characters · wine; a wine jar
- 门Gate radical · mén12 common characters · gate, door
- 阝Mound radical · fù36 common characters · a mound (on the left) or a city (on the right)
- 隹Short-tailed bird radical · zhuī16 common characters · a short-tailed bird
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.