cái
component #9,672

Meanings

  1. 1 money
  2. 2 wealth
  3. 3 riches

Examples

Cáifù
wealth; riches
Fācái
to get rich

Tips

culture
shell/money + talent — 恭喜发财 is the classic Chinese New Year greeting

Components

radical
bèi
shell; money (early currency)
Shell/money radical on the left — the indexing radical and the heart of the meaning. Cowrie shells were the earliest standard currency in ancient China, and the radical labels as the broad category of valued things — money, goods, riches. Same family: (goods), (capital), (precious), (trade).
phonetic
cái
talent; just now (here phonetic)
Right side supplies the sound cái directly with no drift — one of the cleanest phonetic pairings in the script. originally pictured a sprout breaking ground, the just-emerging seed of a thing. Its meaning 'talent' is unrelated here, though both readings share the everyday sense of 'what a person comes equipped with.'

Stroke Order

cái