Read the parts, not the whole

Radical Hunt

Q: How does the Radical Hunt game work?

You are shown one radical with its pinyin and meaning — for example 氵 shuǐ, water — and a grid of Chinese characters. Tap every character that contains that radical. Each correct tap scores and raises your combo; a wrong tap costs one of your three lives. Find them all before the clock empties to bank a time bonus. When a round ends, any characters you missed are highlighted in amber and every hit is listed with its pinyin and meaning.

Q: What is a Chinese radical?

A radical (部首 bùshǒu) is the component a dictionary files a character under, and it usually carries a clue to the meaning. 氵 marks something to do with water (河 river, 海 sea, 洗 to wash), 讠 something to do with speech (说 to speak, 话 words, 请 please), 艹 something growing (花 flower, 草 grass, 茶 tea). There are a few hundred radicals in real circulation, and around 40 of them do most of the work — which is why learning them beats memorising characters one at a time.

Q: Why do some characters count even though the radical is not on the left?

Because the game asks what a character contains, not where the dictionary files it. 落 is 艹 over 洛, and 洛 is 氵 plus 各 — so 落 contains water even though it is filed under grass. 课 is 讠 plus 果, and 果 is 田 over 木, so it contains a tree. 楼 is 木 plus 娄, and 娄 is 米 over 女. Learning to see these nested components is exactly the skill that lets you break down a character you have never met before.

Q: Which radicals does the game cover?

Fourteen of the most useful radicals for reading modern simplified Chinese. Beginner uses the six most recognisable — 氵 water, 讠 speech, 艹 grass, 女 woman, 木 tree and 门 door. Intermediate adds the side forms that beginners confuse: 忄 heart, 扌 hand, 钅 metal, 饣 food, 纟 silk and 犭 animal. Advanced adds 疒 sickness and 宀 roof and uses a 5x5 grid with more deeply buried components.

Q: How is the score calculated?

Every correct tap is worth 60 points multiplied by your combo, which rises one step for every 4 correct taps in a row up to x5 and resets on any mistake. Clearing a grid banks a time bonus of 10 points per second left on the clock. A hint outlines one remaining character for 50 points and clears your combo. The clock gets 1.5 seconds shorter each round, so later rounds reward scanning speed.

Q: Is Radical Hunt free and does it need an account?

It is completely free with no sign-up. Your best scores and your per-radical accuracy are stored in your browser on this device only. Submitting a score to the global leaderboard is optional and uses a nickname, never a real name or email.

氵 is obvious in 河 and 江 — but it is also hiding inside 落. You get a radical; tap every character in the grid that contains it before the clock runs out. 14 radicals, four levels, three lives.

Radical Guide Learning Center

How to Play

Read the target — one radical with its pinyin, meaning and what it tends to signal.
Tap every character containing it — the counter tells you how many are hiding in the grid.
Look inside, not just left — 氵 counts in 落 (it is inside 洛), 木 counts in 课 (inside 果).
Three lives. A wrong tap costs one, and so does letting the clock run out. Every 4 correct taps in a row raises your multiplier, to a maximum of x5.
Stuck? H or the hint button outlines one character you still need, for 50 points.

Miss one and it turns amber when the round ends — then every hit is listed with pinyin and meaning, so a run doubles as a reading lesson.

Lives

0 Score

x1 Combo

1 Round

Can you see the radical inside?

One radical, a grid of characters. Tap every one that contains it — including the ones where it is buried a level down.

Round 1 cleared!

Every on that board:

Time bonus: +0 · Score: 0

Next round: 30s on the clock

Game over! New best!

Round 1 Found 0 Best run 0 Accuracy 0%

Want the systematic version? Read the radical guide →

Paused

Keyboard: H hint · Space pause

The 14 Radicals You Will Hunt

Beginner — the six you can spot at a glance

Radical	Pinyin	Meaning	Found in
氵	shuǐ	water	河江海洗酒落
讠	yán	speech	说话请谢语读
艹	cǎo	grass	花草苦茶菜药
女	nǚ	woman	好她妈姐安楼
木	mù	tree, wood	林森校树果课
门	mén	door, gate	们问间闻闹简

Intermediate — the side forms beginners confuse

Radical	Pinyin	Meaning	Found in
忄	xīn	heart (upright)	忙怕快情慢懂
扌	shǒu	hand	打找拉提换接
钅	jīn	metal	钱银错铁钟针
饣	shí	food	饭饿饺饼饮馆
纟	sī	silk, thread	红给经绿纸线
犭	quǎn	dog, beast	狗猪独狼猜猫

Advanced — adds two more and buries them deeper

Radical	Pinyin	Meaning	Found in
疒	chuáng	sickness	病疼痛瘦疲疯
宀	mián	roof	家字完客安馆

Greyed characters are the sneaky ones — the radical is nested inside another component. All 100 common radicals are catalogued in The Most Common Chinese Radicals.

Why Hunting Radicals Makes You a Faster Reader

You stop reading pixel by pixel

Beginners compare whole character shapes, which is slow and fails on anything new. Fluent readers see chunks — 氵 plus a sound part — and that is a trainable habit, not a talent.

You can guess unknown characters

Spot 疒 in a character you have never seen and you already know it is about illness. That is enough to keep reading instead of reaching for a dictionary.

Then build them yourself

Finding a radical is recognition; assembling one is recall. Take the radicals you just hunted to Character Builder and put the characters back together.

This Game

Found

Wrong

Streak 🔥

Accuracy 0%

Your Radical Accuracy

Play a round to see which radicals you miss

Your Best (this device)

Related Resources

The Most Common Chinese Radicals Character Builder Character Radical Quiz Look-Alike Characters Triple Match Stroke Order Animator