<p>Actually if you can look at the traditional form of this character. The upper part is "丣".“丣” work as a phonetic radical here because it is pronounced you3. </p>

<p>A lot of characters have been simplified in Mandarin in main land China. This make it harder for us to break down a character.</p>

<p>You can find more information here: <a href="http://www.zdic.net/z/1f/xs/7559.htm" rel="nofollow">汉典解释</a> </p>

<p>So the first thing to do when breaking down a character is to find its traditional version. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-19T18:22:54.083Z
2013-11-19T20:01:05.373Z
2013-11-19T20:01:05.373Z
Archeosudoerus
<p>For example, 留. 刀 and 田 are obvious, but the top left? 匚 厶 come close but no match. Pleco says 卯, but I don't see this in many radical charts.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-20T00:19:53.947Z
I guess a different way of asking this question is whether or not all parts of a character have a radical. Also, why is this info useful?
going
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2013-11-20T04:56:07.320Z
As a matter of fact, some characters use their first stroke as a radical in the Xinhua (New Chinese) Dictionary. Besides, there's usually an index ordered by the number of strokes to facilitate the lookup process of a hard-to-break-down character.
phoeagon
<radicals>
When breaking down a character, what do you do for parts where no radical exists?
# When breaking down a character, what do you do for parts where no radical exists?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-11-19)

For example, 留. 刀 and 田 are obvious, but the top left? 匚 厶 come close but no match. Pleco says 卯, but I don't see this in many radical charts.

**Tags:** radicals

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I guess a different way of asking this question is whether or not all parts of a character have a radical. Also, why is this info useful?  
> **username_2**: As a matter of fact, some characters use their first stroke as a radical in the Xinhua (New Chinese) Dictionary. Besides, there's usually an index ordered by the number of strokes to facilitate the lookup process of a hard-to-break-down character.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2013-11-19. Score: 3

Actually if you can look at the traditional form of this character. The upper part is "丣".“丣” work as a phonetic radical here because it is pronounced you3.

A lot of characters have been simplified in Mandarin in main land China. This make it harder for us to break down a character.

You can find more information here: [汉典解释](http://www.zdic.net/z/1f/xs/7559.htm)

So the first thing to do when breaking down a character is to find its traditional version.


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