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How to memorise Wubi radicals — the five zones are a coordinate system

September 20, 2026 · about 844 words · Wubi

The Wubi radical chart is the wall everyone hits. Two hundred-odd components, each assigned to a letter, apparently at random. Most people attack it as a memorisation task, get through a third of it, and stop.

The chart is not random. It is a coordinate system, and once you see the coordinates the memorisation load drops by roughly two thirds.

The structure: five zones, five positions

The letter keys (excluding Z, which is the wildcard) are arranged as a 5×5 grid:

Within each zone, the position (1st to 5th key) encodes which family of strokes: position 1 is the simplest form of that stroke, position 2 is a doubled form, position 3 a tripled or more complex form, and so on.

So G is zone 1, position 1 — the simplest horizontal stroke, i.e. 一 itself. F is zone 1, position 2 — two horizontals, as in 二 or the top of 土. D is zone 1, position 3 — three horizontals, as in 三.

That single rule explains a large part of the chart without any memorisation.

What the zone actually tells you

The zone number tells you the stroke type of the component's first stroke. This is the part that makes the system learnable rather than arbitrary:

• A component starting with a horizontal stroke belongs in zone 1 (G F D S A).
• One starting with a vertical belongs in zone 2 (H J K L M).
• One starting with a left-falling stroke belongs in zone 3 (T R E W Q).
• One starting with a dot belongs in zone 4 (Y U I O P).
• One starting with a hooked or turning stroke belongs in zone 5 (N B V C X).

Given a component, you can usually derive its zone by writing it and looking at the first stroke. Zone 5 is the catch-all for anything that turns or hooks, which is why it feels less regular — it is the bucket for everything that is not one of the four clean stroke types.

The key names: each key has a character

Every key has a key name character (键名字) — a character that is typed by pressing that key four times. G is 王, F is 土, D is 大, and so on.

These matter for two reasons. They are themselves common characters, so you get twenty-five free entries. More usefully, the key name character usually *resembles* the components assigned to that key, which gives you a visual anchor for the whole group.

One caveat that trips people up: the key names differ between versions. In 86 the X key's name relates to 纟, while in 98 and New Century the corresponding key's name is 幺. If you switch versions, do not carry the key names across — they will be wrong.

What to memorise, and what to derive

Roughly speaking:

• Derive the zone from the first stroke. This is a rule, not a fact.
• Derive the position from the stroke repetition for positions 1–3 in most zones.
• Memorise the exceptions, which are the components that resemble a shape rather than following stroke logic — 口 on K, 日 on J, 木 on S, and so on.
• Memorise the key names, because they anchor everything else.

The exceptions are maybe a third of the chart. A third of two hundred is a manageable list; two hundred unrelated facts is not.

A workable order

1. Week one: zone 1 and 2. Horizontal and vertical strokes. Do not touch the others. Type key names repeatedly until they are automatic.
2. Week two: zone 3. Left-falling strokes, and the components built from them.
3. Week three: zone 4 and 5. Dots and hooks. Zone 5 will feel messy; that is normal.
4. Week four: cross-zone practice. Split real characters, using the chart only when stuck.

The mistake is going broad first. Depth in one zone gives you the coordinate intuition; skimming all five gives you five partial grids and no feel for the system.

The mnemonic rhymes, and whether to use them

Every Chinese Wubi tutorial has a set of rhyming verses (字根口诀) that pack the components of each key into a memorable line. Native speakers find them very effective.

If you are not a native speaker, they are usually not worth the effort — the rhymes assume a large existing vocabulary, and learning the verse can cost more than learning the components. Use the coordinate system instead, plus spaced repetition on the exceptions.

Testing yourself honestly

A good check: take a character you have never split, write out its components, and assign each to a key without looking at the chart. Then verify. If you can do that for ten unfamiliar characters in a row, the coordinate system has landed. If you are still looking up more than half, stay on one zone for another week.