<p>You can use <a href="http://cjkdecomp.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=cjk-decomp&amp;referringTitle=Home">Gavin Grover's CJK Decomposition data</a> (used by <a href="https://github.com/nieldlr/Hanzi">HanziJS</a> and <a href="http://cjklib.org/cjklib/current/">cjklib</a>).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T02:15:46.503Z
+1 Awesome resources I haven't seen before.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T00:45:37.027Z
2013-03-28T00:45:37.027Z
dusan
<p>Check out <a href="http://hanzicraft.com" rel="nofollow">hanzicraft.com</a> &amp; <a href="http://zhongwen.com" rel="nofollow">zhongwen.com</a>; they have functions that seem similar to what you're asking for.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-08T14:20:14.577Z
2013-04-08T14:20:14.577Z
aelephant
<p>You can looking for the hanzi in this page <a href="http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=radicals" rel="nofollow">http://www.mdbg.net</a>. Then search the hanzi, when you found it click it. Then you can click over the (1) scissors and show it!</p>

<p>exemple: <a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0xcJU0i3rns/UWB7C5ji4SI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/6P1xzl-fkBo/w570-h428-p-o/Selecci%25C3%25B3_001.png" rel="nofollow">https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0xcJU0i3rns/UWB7C5ji4SI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/6P1xzl-fkBo/w570-h428-p-o/Selecci%25C3%25B3_001.png</a></p>

<p>(2) After you can click over the components!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-06T19:48:04.003Z
2013-04-06T19:48:04.003Z
norbux
<p>I know exactly the thing. There's a <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons%3aChinese_characters_decomposition">project on Wikimedia commons</a> to document the substructure of characters in terms of other characters. I haven't spent much time with the data itself, so I can't tell you how complete it is, but it seems pretty good based on my experience with the <a href="http://tatoeba.org/eng/tools/search_hanzi_kanji">Tatoeba character search tool</a> that is based on the data. That tool allows you to "explode" characters into their components (e.g., <code>蝴 =&gt; 月虫...</code>) or search for all characters with a particular component (e.g., <code>隹 =&gt; 倠傕傩...</code>).</p>

<p>Another project to do something similar is Wenlin's database of characters in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_description_languages">Character Description Language</a>. Here is <a href="http://www.wenlin.com/cdl/">Wenlin's page of resources on the CDL</a>. I'm not really sure if you have to buy Wenlin in order to get at some data. Anyhow, it looks pretty awesome.</p>

<p>Best of luck in your endeavors! I've wanted to do something similar, but I've always been too busy. Make sure to tell us about the cool things you do with the data :-)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-27T10:05:35.130Z
Do you work on wiki projects?
deutschZuid
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-27T14:49:42.227Z
@deutschZuid No I don't. But I'm a computery guy, so Chinese-related datasets are pretty darn interesting to me.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-27T16:09:55.590Z
I am actually developing tools for Tatoeba haha.
qdii
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-27T16:42:59.003Z
@qdii Hahaha, well your existing tool seems to have the data you need.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-26T23:35:50.697Z
2013-03-26T23:35:50.697Z
Stumpy Joe Pete
<p>I would like to be able to compute the distance between 2 hanzi according to their components.</p>

<p>My idea is that a hanzi like 式 is made of 工 and 弋. 2 hanzi are close if they share common components.</p>

<p>To be able to compute such distance, I need to be able to have a list of hanzi and their components in a digital format. Does such list exist?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-16T12:26:35.880Z
there is obviously, as in every language and script, going to be a difference what is synchronously and historically close or related. a given element may be shared by two characters today but have different origins and vice versa. that said, your argument is faulty—just bc, say, english speakers do not make lists of common morphemes when learning the language as a child doesn't mean that's meaningless for a L2 learner (or not interesting for a native speaker).
flow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-26T22:02:48.887Z
I don't know what your purpose of doing this is. If you want to improve your Chinese language proficiency, then you don't need to take this approach, because all of Chinese native speakers were not learning Chinese in this way. If you want to do some academic research on how Chinese characters are constructed and how inter-connected to one another, then you may try this method, but I doubt it works. The reason is that Chinese characters have been evolving for thousands of years, and the face of characters got changed drastically. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to figure out the origi
孤影萍踪
<characters>
List of hanzi and their components
# List of hanzi and their components

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-26)

I would like to be able to compute the distance between 2 hanzi according to their components.

My idea is that a hanzi like 式 is made of 工 and 弋. 2 hanzi are close if they share common components.

To be able to compute such distance, I need to be able to have a list of hanzi and their components in a digital format. Does such list exist?

**Tags:** characters

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I don't know what your purpose of doing this is. If you want to improve your Chinese language proficiency, then you don't need to take this approach, because all of Chinese native speakers were not learning Chinese in this way. If you want to do some academic research on how Chinese characters are constructed and how inter-connected to one another, then you may try this method, but I doubt it works. The reason is that Chinese characters have been evolving for thousands of years, and the face of characters got changed drastically. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to figure out the origi  
> **username_1**: there is obviously, as in every language and script, going to be a difference what is synchronously and historically close or related. a given element may be shared by two characters today but have different origins and vice versa. that said, your argument is faulty—just bc, say, english speakers do not make lists of common morphemes when learning the language as a child doesn't mean that's meaningless for a L2 learner (or not interesting for a native speaker).  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2013-03-26. Score: 17 | Accepted answer

I know exactly the thing. There's a [project on Wikimedia commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons%3aChinese_characters_decomposition) to document the substructure of characters in terms of other characters. I haven't spent much time with the data itself, so I can't tell you how complete it is, but it seems pretty good based on my experience with the [Tatoeba character search tool](http://tatoeba.org/eng/tools/search_hanzi_kanji) that is based on the data. That tool allows you to "explode" characters into their components (e.g., `蝴 => 月虫...`) or search for all characters with a particular component (e.g., `隹 => 倠傕傩...`).

Another project to do something similar is Wenlin's database of characters in the [Character Description Language](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_description_languages). Here is [Wenlin's page of resources on the CDL](http://www.wenlin.com/cdl/). I'm not really sure if you have to buy Wenlin in order to get at some data. Anyhow, it looks pretty awesome.

Best of luck in your endeavors! I've wanted to do something similar, but I've always been too busy. Make sure to tell us about the cool things you do with the data :-)

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: Do you work on wiki projects?  
> **username_4**: @username_7 No I don't. But I'm a computery guy, so Chinese-related datasets are pretty darn interesting to me.  
> **username_0**: I am actually developing tools for Tatoeba haha.  
> **username_4**: @username_0 Hahaha, well your existing tool seems to have the data you need.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2013-03-28. Score: 8

You can use [Gavin Grover's CJK Decomposition data](http://cjkdecomp.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=cjk-decomp&referringTitle=Home) (used by [HanziJS](https://github.com/nieldlr/Hanzi) and [cjklib](http://cjklib.org/cjklib/current/)).

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: +1 Awesome resources I haven't seen before.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-04-08. Score: 3

Check out [hanzicraft.com](http://hanzicraft.com) & [zhongwen.com](http://zhongwen.com); they have functions that seem similar to what you're asking for.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-04-06. Score: 2

You can looking for the hanzi in this page [http://www.mdbg.net](http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=radicals). Then search the hanzi, when you found it click it. Then you can click over the (1) scissors and show it!

exemple: <https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0xcJU0i3rns/UWB7C5ji4SI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/6P1xzl-fkBo/w570-h428-p-o/Selecci%25C3%25B3_001.png>

(2) After you can click over the components!


---

