HSK Guide

Radical 71to have none, to be without; nothing

(second tone, rising)

to have none, to be without; nothing

Radical 714 strokes0 characters

Also written — the same radical in a different position inside the character.

Where the shape comes from

The Kangxi heading is 无, an old short form of 無 "there is not". 無 itself pictures a dancer holding plumes in both hands — the ancestor of 舞 "to dance" — which was borrowed to write the negative and never returned. Simplified writing kept the short shape, so 无 now does the work everywhere: 无论, and the written counterpart of spoken 没有. Only a handful of characters sit under it, chief among them 既.

characters filed under

No published character on HSK Guide is filed under this radical yet. Character explorer.