覀

yà

radical variant

Meanings

1 cover top form radical (variant of 襾)
2 top form of the cover radical, Kangxi #146

Tips

usage

覀 is the rare top form of the cover radical 襾. It looks like a flattened lid sitting above another component and is easily confused with the top of 西 (west). Most learners meet it not as a separate radical but as the cap of 要 (to want) and 票 (ticket). Never written alone.

history

Exact origin uncertain - 覀 is best understood as the top-only flattening of 襾, a classical radical for 'cover' or 'lid'. Modern indexing has largely folded characters that historically used 襾 into other radicals, leaving 覀 mostly in dictionary headers and structural decompositions.

usage

Rarely encountered outside specialist contexts. In everyday reading the same lid-on-top shape appears at the head of 要 (want/important), 票 (ticket), 覆 (cover/overturn) - recognized by silhouette rather than as the named radical 覀.

Radical

Cover Kangxi #146

The 'cover/lid' radical. A pure structural slot for characters topped by a flat covering shape. Very low productivity - the canonical residents are 要 (want), 覆 (cover), 覃 (deep). The top-only flattening 覀 is the form most readers actually see in modern type.

Forms

襾 yà

Default 0 characters

覀 yà

Top 3 characters

Used in

Showing 3 of 3 · top form 覀 of 襾

要 yào

to want · to need

要 yāo

to demand · to ask for; to request

覆 fù

to cover; to overturn · to reply (formal/literary)

Stroke Order