<p><strong>One</strong>.</p>

<p>Characters can be made up of -or- contain lots of "radicals" but there will only be one that is the <strong>actual</strong> <em>radical</em>. </p>

<p>For instance the character 落 has both 艹 and 氵as components but it's radical is only one: 艹. </p>

<p>Characters can also have simplified &amp; traditional radicals.</p>

<p>For example: 卡 has a simplified radical of: 丨 and a traditional radical: 卜 - where 丨 is obviously not a simplification of 卜. The aforementioned 落 on the other hand also has simplified and traditional radicals 艹 &amp; 艸 --- where 艹 is just a straight up simplification of 艸.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T05:49:16.450Z
+1, I always thought of anything that wasn't the radical, even though it could be a radical, as a "component."
Ming
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T09:25:07.680Z
2014-11-17T09:25:07.680Z
Mou某
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/I0HT3.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>For more:</p>

<p>see blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_78d0d11d0100rw8b.html</p>

<p>and <a href="http://baike.baidu.com/view/181910.htm?fr=aladdin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://baike.baidu.com/view/181910.htm?fr=aladdin</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T06:01:00.823Z
Good article, but not exactly what I am looking for. I am looking the maximum number of radicals inside one character. How do we know this in this article?
Divyansh Goenka
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-21T16:47:54.707Z
What the OP ask is 部首, rather than 词缀
Victor
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T05:27:52.180Z
2014-11-17T05:27:52.180Z
Chiron
<p>Is there a and if yes what is the maximum number of radicals that can be there in a Chinese Character?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T06:45:02.230Z
One. Characters can be made up of lots of "radicals" but there will only be one that is the actual *radical*. For instance the character 落 has both 艹 and 氵as components but it's radical is only one: 艹.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T07:09:07.117Z
@user3306356 Yes for 形声字. A 会意字 can have 2 or more “radicals". 器 for example, is a dog guarding four food containers.
Wang Dingwei
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T07:40:06.940Z
I'm only seeing 口 as it's radical, though...
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T08:30:58.227Z
Now apply your single-radical rule to 采, 休, and 卡 :)
Wang Dingwei
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T09:16:30.457Z
In order: 采 亻 丨simplified and 卜 traditional...
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T09:20:03.807Z
I do not feel qualified to answer this question since I am neither Chinese nor a professionally trained Sinologist, but I think the reason for some people think a character can have multiple radicals is that some modern dictionaries will list a character under multiple radicals to make the look up process for the dictionary user faster, like the bilingual Chinese-English version of the 新华字典. I guess I stopped using this dictionary for the very reason that the editors of it thought "laowais are stupid, we need to list characters under many radicals, otherwise they will never find them!"
imrek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-17T09:28:56.453Z
OK obviously I have confused radicals with word roots. You are both correct.
Wang Dingwei
<radicals>
Maximum Number of Lateral Radicals
# Maximum Number of Lateral Radicals

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-17)

Is there a and if yes what is the maximum number of radicals that can be there in a Chinese Character?

**Tags:** radicals

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: One. Characters can be made up of lots of "radicals" but there will only be one that is the actual *radical*. For instance the character 落 has both 艹 and 氵as components but it's radical is only one: 艹.  
> **username_2**: @user3306356 Yes for 形声字. A 会意字 can have 2 or more “radicals". 器 for example, is a dog guarding four food containers.  
> **username_1**: I'm only seeing 口 as it's radical, though...  
> **username_2**: Now apply your single-radical rule to 采, 休, and 卡 :)  
> **username_1**: In order: 采 亻 丨simplified and 卜 traditional...  
> **username_3**: I do not feel qualified to answer this question since I am neither Chinese nor a professionally trained Sinologist, but I think the reason for some people think a character can have multiple radicals is that some modern dictionaries will list a character under multiple radicals to make the look up process for the dictionary user faster, like the bilingual Chinese-English version of the 新华字典. I guess I stopped using this dictionary for the very reason that the editors of it thought "laowais are stupid, we need to list characters under many radicals, otherwise they will never find them!"  
> **username_2**: OK obviously I have confused radicals with word roots. You are both correct.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-11-17. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

**One**.

Characters can be made up of -or- contain lots of "radicals" but there will only be one that is the **actual** *radical*.

For instance the character 落 has both 艹 and 氵as components but it's radical is only one: 艹.

Characters can also have simplified & traditional radicals.

For example: 卡 has a simplified radical of: 丨 and a traditional radical: 卜 - where 丨 is obviously not a simplification of 卜. The aforementioned 落 on the other hand also has simplified and traditional radicals 艹 & 艸 --- where 艹 is just a straight up simplification of 艸.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: +1, I always thought of anything that wasn't the radical, even though it could be a radical, as a "component."  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-11-17. Score: 0

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/I0HT3.png)

For more:

see blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog\_78d0d11d0100rw8b.html

and <http://baike.baidu.com/view/181910.htm?fr=aladdin>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Good article, but not exactly what I am looking for. I am looking the maximum number of radicals inside one character. How do we know this in this article?  
> **username_6**: What the OP ask is 部首, rather than 词缀  

---

