偏旁部首

We often hear "偏旁部首". Is there a difference between “偏旁” and “部首”, or are they the same?

Some words are formed with left and right parts, top and bottom parts, inside and outside parts. These parts are called 偏旁. For example, “好” is comprised of “女” and “子” these 2 left and right parts (偏旁), and the 部首 is “女”.

When loooking up a word using the Chinese dictionary, the first thing one needs to do is to look for the 部首 (if you are not checking via hanyu pinyin). In my 时代高级汉语词典, I can find around 200 部首. 部首 can be the 偏旁 too, but 偏旁 may not necessary be the 部首.

During ancient times, words with similar parts are classified together, and usually they share the same association. For example, “狗”, “猫”, “猪” and “狼” share the same left part - “犭” (反犬旁), and these are words associated with animals. “犭” became the 部首.  部首 are often the first few strokes of a word, but there are exception. Like “学” and “孝”, their 部首 is “子”.

And some of the 部首 can be found at different parts of a word. For example, "心部" can be found on the left in "情" and "怕". It can be found at the bottom in "志" and "息". It can also be found at the bottom in another form in "添" and "慕".

In general, words with the same 部首 share similar association. But some words have lost their original meanings, so they may not seem to have any association with the 部首.

Knowing the 部首 and their associations is one way that can help children remember Chinese words and their meanings. Especially when they are faced with words that look similar, for example - 浪，狼，恨，痕. The 部首 are 三点水, 反犬旁, 竖心旁 and 病字头, and they are associated with water, animals, feeling and illness respectively. This gives them a clue to what the words mean.

I have gathered some common 部首 here for your information:

部首	部首名称	例字	关联
亻	单人旁	你，他， 仁	和人类的行為有关
彳	双人旁	行，征，往	和行走有关
扌	提手旁	捉，打，扶	和手有关
忄	竖心旁	情，怜，怯	和心，情感有关
刂	立刀旁	刑，划，刻	和刀或切割有关
纟	绞丝旁	纠，纱，线	和丝线，纺织，布匹有关
犭	反犬旁	狗，猛，狂	和动物、动物的性质有关
衤	衣字旁	被，裙，衫	和衣物有关
礻	示字旁	礼，祈，祖	多与祭祀、礼仪有关
⻊	足字旁	跑，跳，跛	和脚有关
宀	宝盖头	家，宅，室	像屋顶的形状, 表示和室家/屋有关
⺮	竹字头	篮，竿，笔	和竹有关
艹	草字头	花，芒，芽	和植物有关
疒	病字头	疾，疼，痕	本义是床的意思；和病痛有关
辶	走之底	过，进，运	和行走有关
冫	兩点水	冰，冷，冲	多和冰冻、寒冷有关
氵	三点水	洗，汉，河	和水有关
灬	四点火	煮，烈，热	和火有关
讠	言字旁	说，讲，请	和言语有关
土	提土旁	场，地，城	和土地有关
饣	食字旁	饭，饮，饥	和饮食有关
木	木字旁	树，椅，板	和木有关
钅	金字旁	铁，钢，针	和铁有关
子	子字旁	孔，孙，孩	和儿女有关
虫	虫字底	蚕，萤	和昆虫类有关
	虫字旁	蚊，蜂
女	女字底	婆，妻	和女性有关
	女字旁	妈，妹
贝	贝字底	贪，货	和钱货有关
	贝字旁	赚，财