Módulos de señales utilizables de forma redundante

following Radical Method Rule:

Rule: The component with the least number of strokes or the component that is simplest

in appearance will usually be the radical. Sometimes, this component will also have an

appearance of being larger than the other components in the character. In Chinese, these few-stroke, simplest in appearance-type components are referred to as Single-Component (Independent Character) Radicals 独体字部首. Click on this link for more information on Independent Characters 独体字.

Assume the character we want to look up is this: 锋. Using the rule, the component with the least number of strokes/simplest in appearance is the left-side component 钅, while the right-side component is much more complex in appearance containing more strokes than the left-side component.

2. Once the component with the least number of strokes has been identified, the next step is to count the number of strokes in that component. In the case of the 钅component, it contains five strokes. For an explanation of how to count strokes, please refer to the section titled:

Stroke Order Rules And Counting Strokes 笔画规则与笔画数.

3. The next step is to go to the Radical Index 部首表and find the section where the 五画5-stroke radicals are located. It can be seen that in that section, the 钅component is radical number 122. Radical number 122 is named 金字旁jin1zi4pang2 - Gold radical and this radical has a shape variation of 釒.

4. The next step is to locate radical number 122 in theCharacter Look-up Index 检字表. It can be seen in

the index that radical number 122 is identified by the heading 钅(釒) 部.

5. The next step is to count the number of strokes in the right side component of the 锋. Using the stroke- count method discussed in the Stroke Order Rules And Counting Strokes 笔画规则与笔画数section of this

page, we can determine that the right side of the 锋 character contains seven strokes.

6. The next step is to find the section under the heading 钅(釒) 部 where the 7-stroke characters are

located. That section is labeled 七画 (7 stroke). The character 锋 is the last character down in that section. The pinyin to the right of the character is "feng1" (first tone).

7. The character entries in most Chinese dictionaries are arranged alphabetically, so therefore when looking for Chinese character entries in the dictionary, you can use the first character of the pinyin as your dictionary page starting point. In this case, since the character we are looking for is "feng1", we turn the dictionary to the page where the "F" pinyin entries start, then continue to turn the page until we find where the "feng" pinyin entries start. Since "feng1" is a first-tone pronunciation, we need only concern ourselves with the Chinese characters whose pronunciation is first-tone.

8. The final step is to visually scan every Chinese character whose pronunciation is "feng1". During the scanning process, your objective is to find the 锋 feng1 character among the entries. Once the character has been found, you'll then be able to read the dictionary's definition of the 锋 feng1 character. In this case, 锋 feng1 means "The cutting edge of a knife or a sword". Dictionary definitions will vary among publishers and editions. For more information about selecting dictionaries, see the web page entitled

Chinese Language Resources.

Here are a few more examples:

a. 看: This character has two components, the upper-left component which contains 4 strokes and the lower-right component 目which contains 5 strokes. Using the Radical Method Rule, we determine that the upper-left component contains the least amount of strokes, so we look up that component in the Radical Index 部首表. However, we discover that it does not exist in the radical index (it is not a radical). Our next step is to then look up the lower-right component. The lower-right component does exist in the radical index: it is radical number 118 目 (目字旁mu4zi4pang2). By using the above 1-8 steps, we find the

character 看 is located 8th down in the 二至四画 heading of radical (118) in the Character Look-up Index 检 字表. The character is pronounced kan1;kan4, and after finding it's entry in the dictionary, it's definition is "see; look at; watch; think".

The Radical Method rule states: "The component with the least number of strokes or the component that has the simplest of appearances will usually be the radical". In the above example a. 看, although the upper-left component contained fewer strokes than the lower-right component, the lower-right

component ultimately was the radical. The reason is that when comparing the appearances of the two components in 看, the lower-right component has a tighter, smaller and more cohesive structure, while the upper-left component appears more loose, large and lacks cohesiveness. We can than conclude that although the upper-left component contained fewer strokes than the lower-right component, the reason the lower-right component is the radical is because it was simpler in appearance than that of the upper-left component.

b. When a character appears to be complicated in structure and you are having trouble finding the radical, here is a method that you can use to help you find the radical. For example, the character we want to look-up is 朝:

1. First you would check the Radical Index 部首表 to see if the right-side component 月 is the radical. Then you would check the Character Look-up Index 检字表 to see if 朝 belongs to that radical.

2. In the event 月 is not the radical, then you would further analyze 朝 to find what is the next simplest of components 部分. In the case of 朝, the next simplest of components is the 十 on top of the left-side component. You would then repeat step 1 to see if 十 is indeed a radical and whether or not the radical for 朝 is indeed 十.

3. You would continue in this fashion, sequentially analyzing the character for it's simplest components and then looking up these components in the Radical Index 部首表 and Character Look-up Index 检字表 until a correct match is found.

c. Examples continued:

- The character 能: First look-up the 匕 component. If that fails, then look-up the 厶 component. - The character 旁: First look-up the 亠 component which is on top of the character. If that fails, then look-up the 八 component located beneath the 亠 component. If that too fails, then look- up the 冖 component located beneath the 八 component.

The key to finding the radical of seemingly structurally complicated characters is to identify the simplest of the character's components and then sequentially look for these components (using the above 1-8 steps) in the Radical Index 部首表 and Character Look-up Index 检字表 until you locate the character.

Radical Shape Variations:

Another factor which can make identifying the radical inside a Chinese character difficult is that often times, the original shape of a radical (as it exists by itself outside of a character) and the shape it assumes once it resides inside the character can vary. For example, the 路lu4 character's radical is 足 (足字旁

zu2zi4pang2) , but the radical as it exists inside the the character assumes a shape of . The " 部首形状变 化 Radical Shape Variations" column of the radicals listed in the Radical Index 部首表 will show you the

alternate shape(s) a respective radical can assume. In addition, the Dictionary Radical Index 词典部首表 will

provide you this same information, showing the variations (listed in parenthesis) for each respective radical. Through the process of looking up characters in a dictionary and utilizing the various indexes, you will

become more familiar with the radicals and their possible shape variations.

2. The First-Stroke Method:

The second way of looking up a character in a dictionary is called the First-Stroke Method. When looking at a Chinese character, there may be times when it is difficult to identify it's distinctive components, thus it is difficult to identify which of the components is the radical. This will particularly be the case with

Independent Characters 独体字 (see the above section titled Character Structure 字的结构 for further

explanation), the reader must use the First-Stroke Method in order to look-up the character in the dictionary. Similar to the Radical Method, the First-Stroke method also employs simultaneous use of the Radical

Index 部首表 and the Character Look-up Index 检字表.

The First-Stroke Method contains seven steps as discussed below:

1. The first step in looking-up a character using the First-Stroke Method is to identify within the character