乙 (yǐ) is Kangxi radical no. 5, “second; hook”. It also appears as 乚 (yǐ), 乛 (yǐ). In this form it is written with 1 stroke.
As a radical, 乙 (yǐ) is the part a dictionary files these characters under. Often it hints at the meaning - “second” - but sometimes it is only a shape that the character happened to share.
The characters range from 1 to 8 strokes. 2 of them already appear in HSK 3.0 levels 1–2, and 2 have a full word page of their own.
Good ones to start with: 九 (jiǔ) nine, 也 (yě) also / too, 卫 (wèi) to guard.
← 丿 (piě) · All characters · 亅 (jué) →
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