刂 (dāo) is Kangxi radical no. 18, “knife”. It also appears as 刀 (dāo), 刁 (dāo). In this form it is written with 2 strokes.
Written 刂 (dāo) on the right, it points to cutting, dividing and sharp tools - and, by extension, to rules that cut things apart.
The characters range from 2 to 15 strokes. 4 of them already appear in HSK 3.0 levels 1–2, and 5 have a full word page of their own.
Good ones to start with: 分 (fēn) fen (1 cent) / minute / point, 到 (dào) arrive / reach, 前 (qián) front / before / forward, 别 (bié) don't / other.
← 凵 (qiǎn) · All characters · 力 (lì) →
Enable JavaScript to use the full app.