部首 bùshǒu radical of a Chinese character
How to remember 部首: 部 section + 首 head = radical of a Chinese character.
Characters
How it is used
- 'The radical of a Chinese character' - the classifying component used to look it up - 按部首查字典 (àn bùshǒu chá zìdiǎn) look up a word by radical.
- A dictionary/language term: e.g. 河 has the water radical 氵. Distinguish from 偏旁 (piānpáng, any side-component); the 部首 is specifically the indexing radical.
- Essential vocabulary for talking about character structure.