丶
marks a single dot stroke · Kangxi radical 3
marks a single dot stroke, which in most characters is just one piece of a larger picture rather than a meaning of its own
丶 is not really a word-picture but a stroke shape — a small tapering dot, written with a quick press of the brush. Traditional dictionaries treat it as a radical so that characters with a stray dot and no better home can be filed somewhere, and its own origin as an independent graph is unclear. In the characters listed here the dot almost always belongs to something else: it is the flame on top of the lamp in 主, the ear or extra limb marking a dog in 犬 and 尤, the tick inside the crescent moon in 夕, the little peak of a roof in 宀, and the leftover mark of a hand or tool in 卜 and 之. So when you see 丶, read it as one brush-mark within a bigger image rather than as a meaning.
丶 at a glance
- Meaning
- marks a single dot stroke
- Strokes
- 1
- Characters
- 34
- Role
- Contributes meaning
- Kangxi radical
- 3
Characters with 丶 (33 of 34)
HSK 1 · 1
HSK 3 · 1
HSK 4 · 6
HSK 5 · 8
Beyond HSK · 12
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 丶 mean?
丶 means "marks a single dot stroke". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning.
How many Chinese characters contain 丶?
34 characters in this dictionary contain 丶, including ones at HSK 1, HSK 2, HSK 3, HSK 4, HSK 5, HSK 6.
Is 丶 a radical?
Yes — 丶 is Kangxi radical 3, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 丶 have?
丶 is written in 1 stroke.