Chapter 1 – Graphemes
What Are Graphemes?
Kanji are made up of smaller parts — visual components that repeat over and over in different combinations. In this guide, we call these parts graphemes. They are like the building blocks of kanji.
You’ve probably heard the word radical before. Radicals are a specific system used in dictionaries to index kanji, and every kanji has exactly one of them.
But when learning kanji, focusing only on radicals can be limiting — many important recurring parts aren’t radicals at all.
Graphemes are different: they include all reusable visual pieces that contribute to a kanji’s meaning or shape, regardless of whether they’re officially considered radicals. Learning to spot them gives you an edge — they help you break down unfamiliar kanji and make smart guesses about their meaning.
This page introduces the graphemes for Chapter 1 — each one appears in at least one kanji you'll learn this chapter.
This grapheme appears on the left side of a kanji. You can imagine 亻as a stylized image of a MAN wearing a wide-brimmed hat and looking up to the right. Once you see it, you’ll start noticing it everywhere — it shows up in kanji that have to do with people and human actions.
This simple vertical stroke represents a STICK. Sometimes the stick has a hook at the bottom, like this: 亅.