Kangxi Radicals (Unicode block)

Kangxi Radicals is a Unicode block. In version 3.0 (1999), this separate Kangxi Radicals block was introduced which encodes the 214 radicals in sequence, at U+2F00–2FD5. These are specific code points intended to represent the radical qua radical, as opposed to the character consisting of the unaugmented radical; thus, U+2F00 represents radical 1 while U+4E00 represents the character meaning "one". In addition, the CJK Radicals Supplement block (2E80–2EFF) was introduced, encoding alternative (often positional) forms taken by Kangxi radicals as they appear within specific characters. For example, ⺁ "CJK RADICAL CLIFF" (U+2E81) is a variant of ⼚ radical 27 (U+2F1A), itself identical in shape to the character consisting of unaugmented radical 27, 厂 "cliff" (U+5382).

Kangxi Radicals
RangeU+2F00..U+2FDF
(224 code points)
PlaneBMP
ScriptsHan
Symbol setsCJK Radical
Assigned214 code points
Unused10 reserved code points
Source standardsCNS 11643-1992
Unicode version history
3.0 (1999)214 (+214)
Unicode documentation
Code chart ∣ Web page
Note: [1][2]

The Unicode standard encoded 20,992 characters in version 1.0.1 (1992) in the CJK Unified Ideographs block (U+4E00–9FFF). This standard followed the Kangxi order of radicals (radical 1 at U+4E00, radical 214 at U+9FA0) but did not encode all characters found in the Kangxi dictionary. Individual characters were listed based on their Kangxi radical and number of additional strokes, e.g. U+5382 厂, the unaugmented radical 27 meaning "cliff" is listed under "27.0", while U+5383 to U+5386 are listed under "27.2" as they all consist of radical 27 plus two additional strokes. More characters were added in later versions, adding "CJK Unified Ideographs Extensions" A, B, C, D, E and F as of Unicode 12.1 (2019) with further additions planned for Unicode 13.0. Within each "Extension", characters are also ordered by Kangxi radical and additional strokes. The Unicode Consortium maintains the "Unihan Database", with a Radical-Stroke-Index. The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository provides no official collation (sort order) rule for Unicode CJK characters (short of sorting characters by code point);[3] such collation rules as there are language-specific (such as JIS X 0208 for Japanese kanji) and do not include any of the CJK Unified Ideographs Extension characters.

Chart

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Kangxi Radicals[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+2F0x
U+2F1x
U+2F2x
U+2F3x ⼿
U+2F4x
U+2F5x
U+2F6x
U+2F7x ⽿
U+2F8x
U+2F9x
U+2FAx
U+2FBx ⾿
U+2FCx
U+2FDx
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

History

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The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Kangxi Radicals block:

References

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  1. ^ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ^ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  3. ^ Ken Whistler, Markus Scherer, Unicode Collation Algorithm, Unicode Technical Standard #10, version 7.0.0 (2014).