Tongue Radical (舌) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
舌 is the tongue radical. It appears in 10 of the most common Chinese characters — these 10 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 舌 mean?
Tongue radical · 舌 shé · 6 strokes · tongue
It usually appears on the left 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: 舌
舌 itself: A tongue 千 sticking out of a mouth 口
10 common characters with 舌
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 话 | huà | word, talk, utterance | A spoken 讠 tongue 舌; 舌 also provides the pronunciation |
| 活 | huó | live, survive | 舌 supplies the sound |
| 适 | shì | to fit; suitable; proper; just (now); comfortable; well; to go; to fol… | 舌 supplies the sound |
| 乱 | luàn | at random, arbitrarily, disorderly | |
| 括 | kuò | (bound form) to tie up; to tighten up; (bound form) to include; to com… | 舌 supplies the sound |
| 敌 | dí | enemy | 啇 supplies the sound |
| 舍 | shè | abandon, give up, part with | 舌 supplies the sound |
| 辞 | cí | to resign | Bitter 辛 words 舌 |
| 甜 | tián | sweet | Something tasty 甘 to the tongue 舌 |
| 刮 | guā | scrape; shave; (of wind) blow | 舌 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 米Rice radical · mǐ16 common characters · rice
- 纟Silk radical · sī49 common characters · silk; thread
- 耳Ear radical · ěr8 common characters · ear
- 艮Blunt radical · gèn13 common characters · blunt, stubborn; a mountain pass
- 艹Grass radical · cǎo39 common characters · grass; plants
- 虫Insect radical · chóng9 common characters · insect, reptile
Create Your Own Chinese Worksheet
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