Radical 212

龍 竜 龙
211 ⿒ ◄	212	► ⿔ 213
Pinyin :	lóng (= dragon)
Zhuyin :	ㄌ ㄨ ㄥ ˊ
Hiragana :	り ゅ う ryū, た つ tatsu
Kanji :	竜 tatsu (= dragon)
Hangul :	용
Sinocorean :	룡 (Yale: l yong)
Codepoint :	U + 9F8D 7ADC 9F99
Stroke sequence :

Radical 212 龍 meaning " dragon " is one of only two traditional radicals in the Chinese writing with sixteen strokes. The Chinese abbreviation for dragon ( 龙 ) is greatly simplified and the Japanese abbreviation ( 竜 ) hardly shows the origin.

It rarely occurs with 5 character combinations in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary . In the Kangxi dictionary , too, there were only 14 of 40,000 characters that could be found under this radical.

In compound characters, 龍  /  龙 occurs mainly as a sound carrier, as in

瀧  /  泷 (= rapids),

籠  /  笼 (= cage) and

聾  /  聋 (= deaf).

The Chinese dragon is the most famous mythical creature of the East Asian culture. In contrast to the European dragons , this one can be compared more with a deity than with a demon. Local dragon deities (in rivers and lakes) are worshiped in rural areas, for example to solicit rain. The appearance of the dragon can be described as follows:

1. Body of a snake,
2. Head of a water buffalo,
3. Mouth of a camel,
4. Eyes of a demon,
5. Mane of a lion,
6. Whiskers of a carp,
7. Claws of an eagle,
8. Antlers of a deer and
9. Teeth of a wolf.

The dragon is one of the twelve animals in the Chinese calendar . In China, it is the most popular of the twelve signs: In the dragon years there is a demonstrable significant increase in the birth rate - especially since the one-child policy. Dragon years ( 辰 chén ) are:

February 16	1904 until 0February 3	1905
03 February	1916 to January 22nd	1917
January 23	1928 to 0February 9	1929
0February 8	1940 to January 26th	1941
January 27th	1952 to February 13	1953
13th February	1964 to 0February 1	1965
31 January	1976 to February 17th	1977
February 17th	1988 to 0February 5th	1989
0February 5th	2000 to January 23	2001
January 23	2012 to 0February 9th	2013

Character compounds ruled by radical 212

carved dragon

Strokes	character
+ 00	龍 竜 龙
+ 02	龎
+ 03	龏 龐 龘
+ 04	龑
+ 05	龒
+ 06	龓 龔 龕
+16	龖
+17	龗

In the Unicode block Kangxi radicals , radical 212 is coded under the code point number 12.243 (U + 2FD3).

literature

• Edoardo Fazzioli : Painted Words. 214 Chinese characters - from picture to concept . Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-34-7 , p. 163 .
• Cecilia Lindqvist : A world of signs - about the Chinese and their writing . Droemer Knaur, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-426-26482-X , p. 115 .

For detailed references, see List of Traditional Radicals: Literature

Web links

Commons : Radikal 212  - Graphic representations of Radikal 212