Private Radical (厶) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
厶 is the private radical. It appears in 17 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 厶 mean?
Private radical · 厶 sī · 2 strokes · private; personal
It usually appears at the top of 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: 厶
厶 itself: A silk cocoon
12 common characters with 厶
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 能 | néng | can | A bear's head 厶, body ⺼, and claws 匕 |
| 么 | me | [interrogative particle] | |
| 去 | qù | go | |
| 公 | gōng | public; official business; father-in-law | To divide 八 what is private 厶 |
| 至 | zhì | arrive, reach | A bird alighting on the ground 土 |
| 台 | tái | [measure word for machines, and also performances, etc.] | |
| 参 | cān | used in 参差 | 彡 supplies the sound |
| 育 | yù | give birth; raise, keep; educate | A pregnant woman with a baby ⺼ in her womb |
| 县 | xiàn | county | |
| 私 | sī | personal, private; illicit | 厶 provides the meaning and pronunciation |
| 云 | yún | cloud | A cloud |
| 弃 | qì | relinquish, abandon; discard | Two hands 廾 discarding a dead, swaddled baby 亠厶 |
Related Radicals
- 十Ten radical · shí33 common characters · ten; a cross shape
- 卜Divination radical · bǔ9 common characters · divination; forecasting
- 厂Cliff radical · hǎn19 common characters · a cliff; a shelter slope
- 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
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.