Mouth Radical (口) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
口 is the mouth radical. It appears in 134 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 口 mean?
Mouth radical · 口 kǒu · 3 strokes · mouth; an opening
It usually appears anywhere — left, right, top or 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.
Shapes: 口
口 itself: An open mouth
12 common characters with 口
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 和 | hé | and | 禾 supplies the sound |
| 中 | zhōng | in, within | A line 丨 through the center of a box 口 |
| 后 | hòu | behind; after, later | |
| 可 | kě | but, yet | 口 supplies the sound |
| 事 | shì | matter, thing | |
| 同 | tóng | [indicating relationship, involvement, comparison] with | Sharing a common 凡 tongue 口 |
| 问 | wèn | ask | 门 supplies the sound |
| 如 | rú | like, as, as if; such as | A wife 女 following her husband's words 口 |
| 高 | gāo | tall, high | A tall palace |
| 知 | zhī | know | 矢 supplies the sound |
| 只 | zhī | only | Simple words 八 coming from the mouth 口 |
| 回 | huí | return; reply; decline (invitation) | Originally, a spiral signifying return |
Related Radicals
- 厂Cliff radical · hǎn19 common characters · a cliff; a shelter slope
- 厶Private radical · sī17 common characters · private; personal
- 又Again radical · yòu38 common characters · again; (originally) a right hand
- 囗Enclosure radical · wéi13 common characters · an enclosure; walls all around
- 土Earth radical · tǔ59 common characters · earth, soil
- 士Scholar radical · shì8 common characters · scholar
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.