八 (bā) is Kangxi radical no. 12, “eight; divide”. It also appears as 丷 (bā). In this form it is written with 2 strokes.
As a radical, 八 (bā) is the part a dictionary files these characters under. Often it hints at the meaning - “eight” - but sometimes it is only a shape that the character happened to share.
The characters range from 2 to 11 strokes. 5 of them already appear in HSK 3.0 levels 1–2, and 3 have a full word page of their own.
Good ones to start with: 八 (bā) eight, 六 (liù) six, 关 (guān) close / shut / concern, 公 (gōng) public.
← 儿 (ér) · All characters · 冖 (mì) →
Enable JavaScript to use the full app.