One meaning to unlock 10 Chinese characters — the 莫 phonetic radical, in depth

Learn Chinese characters (kanji) the smart way: the 莫 radical appears in 暮 幕 墓 漠 膜 募 模 摹 摸 慕, and textbooks call it a meaningless "phonetic component." It isn't. 莫 carries one hidden meaning — "to cover" — and with it you can derive the meaning and pronunciation of the entire character family: dusk, curtain, grave, desert, membrane, to recruit, model, to trace, to touch, to long for. This is the radical composition method for Chinese characters (hanzi / kanji): an abstract radical carries a core concept; combine it with concrete domains — Sun, cloth, earth, water, hand, heart — and whole families of characters follow. Learn one radical, unlock ten characters — and see the underlying logic of the Chinese language. Chapters: 0:00 Intro: one concept, ten characters 2:17 暮 dusk 3:20 幕 curtain 4:17 墓 grave 5:10 漠 desert 6:13 莫's meaning and sound dual role 7:49 膜 membrane 8:56 募 to recruit 9:53 模 mold 11:43 摹 to trace 12:43 摸 to touch 13:56 慕 to long for 14:51 The radical composition model 16:39 Other types of composition 19:19 Composite abstract radicals 19:46 The origin of 莫 22:10 When 莫 stands alone 23:51 Closing New here? Chinese Decoded decodes Chinese characters family by family. Subscribe for the next family.