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釆

biàn
kangxi_radical

Meanings

  1. 1 claw-print radical (Kangxi #165)
  2. 2 indexing radical originally meaning 'animal-paw print; to distinguish'

Tips

usage
釆 (biàn) is rare in modern Chinese — almost nobody writes it freestanding. It looks identical to 采 (cǎi, 'pick'), but the two are historically distinct: 釆 is the older 'paw-print / discern' character, kept alive only in compounds. Visual confusion with 采 is the main learner pitfall.
history
That sense survives in the modern character 番 ('turn / classifier') and in 释 (释/釋, 'explain / release').

Radical

Distinguish Kangxi #165

The claw-print/distinguish radical. A pure structural slot for indexing — its sole productive descendant is 释 (explain) and 番 (turn). The Shuowen reads it as paw-prints separating in the dirt, the original metaphor for telling things apart. Modern dictionaries preserve it mostly out of historical fidelity to the Kangxi numbering.

Used in

Showing 3 of 3 · default form 釆
采 cǎi
to pick; to pluck; to gather · to collect; to select
释 shì
to explain · to release
釉 yòu
glaze (on porcelain or pottery) · enamel

Stroke Order

釆 biàn