contributes the sense of striking · Kangxi radical 66

contributes the sense of striking, hitting or beating something with a hand-held stick

攴 is a picture of a hand grasping a stick and bringing it down on something: the top part, written like 卜, is the raised stick, and the bottom 又 is the hand that holds it. You can still see both halves in the modern shape — two short strokes for the stick above, the hand below — and the striking sense comes straight through in 敲 'to hit' and in the raiding, robbing sense of 寇. In many characters 攴 has been smoothed into the more common variant 攵, and a similar hand-plus-tool shape lies inside 皮, which originally showed skin being stripped from an animal.

攴 at a glance

Meaning
contributes the sense of striking
Strokes
4
Characters
3
Role
Contributes meaning
Kangxi radical
66

Characters with 攴

HSK 4 · 2

Beyond HSK · 1

Frequently asked questions

What does the component 攴 mean?

攴 means "contributes the sense of striking". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning.

How many Chinese characters contain 攴?

3 characters in this dictionary contain 攴, including ones at HSK 4.

Is 攴 a radical?

Yes — 攴 is Kangxi radical 66, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.

How many strokes does 攴 have?

攴 is written in 4 strokes.