Radical 51

干
50 ⼱ ◄	51	► ⼳ 52
Pinyin :	gān (= shield)
Zhuyin :	ㄍ ㄢ
Hiragana :	ほ す hosu
Kanji :	干 hosu (= dry)
Hangul :	방패
Sinocorean :	간 gan
Codepoint :	U + 5E72
Stroke sequence :

Radical 51 , meaning “ shield ”, is one of 31 traditional radicals in Chinese script , which consist of three strokes.

With 8 combinations of characters in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary , it is very rare in the lexicon. Today, some modern Chinese dictionaries no longer list 干 as radical.

The seal character represents a fork or fork, a hunting device. This sense still occurs today in the Chinese phrase 大动干戈 (= to wage war).

The sign is similar to the katakana sign チ  "chi".

In the compound symbol, 干 usually appears as a sound carrier as in:

• 杆 (= pole),
• 竿 (= rod),
• 肝 (= liver),
• 刊 (= print),
• 汗 (= sweat) u. a.

Today's Chinese abbreviation干in干燥(= dry) and in干部(= squad ) has nothing to do with the original radical. 干 is the abbreviation of two different characters, namely “do, work” in 干部 and 乾 (= dried) in 乾燥 (= dry). In both cases the character 干 is only a sound carrier. The writing reform left only the form 干 of both characters.

The Japanese and Chinese versions of Prosit are 乾杯 (kampai) or 干杯 (ganbei). Both mean something like "dry glass".

Character combinations ruled by radical 51

Strokes	character
+ 00	干
+ 02	平
+ 03	年幵 并
+ 05	幷 幸
+10	幹

In the Unicode block Kangxi radicals , radical 51 is coded under the code point number 12.082 (U + 2F32).

literature

• Edoardo Fazzioli : Painted Words. 214 Chinese characters - from picture to concept . Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-34-7 , p. 87 .

For detailed references, see List of Traditional Radicals: Literature

Web links

Commons : Radikal 51  - Graphic representations of Radikal 51

• Xiù cai.oai.de (PDF; 1.72 MB) Explanation of Radikal 51 on page 23