艮
The 艮 radical
Stillness, the Gen trigram
Memory hook
An eye turned back, refusing to look ahead — stopping, stubbornness. It is the Gen (mountain) trigram of the Yijing: 良 (good), 艰 (hardship).
The 艮 radical (read gèn) means stillness, the gen trigram. The HSK 3.0 data contains 2 characters and 14 words built on it — learning them together is far faster than one character at a time.
Practise the 艮 radical
Study this radical's 14 words with flashcards or a quiz.
Characters with the 艮 radical
2 charactersHSK 4· 1 characters
HSK 4良
good, fine
HSK 5· 1 characters
HSK 5艰
difficult, arduous
Vocabulary with the 艮 radical
14 wordsWords containing at least one character with the 艮 radical, ordered by HSK level.
excellent, fine
kind-hearted
good
bad
hardship, difficult
arduous, difficult
to improve, to upgrade
good; fine
conscience
benign (of a disease that is not dangerous; a non-cancerous tumor)
arduous; extremely difficult
to struggle arduously, to work hard to overcome difficulties
hardship, toil, arduousness
hardships and dangers
Why learn vocabulary by the 艮 radical?
The 艮 radical hints at the meaning stillness, the gen trigram. When you meet an unfamiliar character carrying it, you already know part of its meaning before reaching for a dictionary — which is why learners who know their radicals move faster.
How to study: read the memory hook, skim the 2 characters to spot the pattern, then drill the 14 words with flashcards. Spaced repetition brings each word back exactly when you need it.