Kangxi Radical Leaf

⾴ is the radical form associated with 頁, used to index Han characters. A radical is a component dictionaries use to group characters; the remaining strokes then narrow the lookup. In the Kangxi system, ⾴ is radical 181. It labels the traditional 頁 family and serves as a reference sign.

An ancestor of 頁 appears in oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions as a person with an emphasized head; one recorded oracle-bone example shows a pig's head. The Chinese character dictionary 字彙, whose title means “character collection,” set out the 214-radical lookup framework in 1615; the Kangxi Dictionary adopted it in 1716. During the Eastern Han, 頁 also served as a variant of 葉, the character for “leaf,” which explains the English label “leaf.” These dictionary dates are not the origin date of the ancient graph.

What does ⾴ mean when someone sends it?

A message with ⾴ usually points to character-reference context. In a radical list, it labels the 頁 group; beside another Han character, it marks structure or indexing. Read it alone as a possible dictionary, Unicode, or font reference, then use the surrounding message to confirm.

The radical sign and traditional character 頁 are distinct even when a typeface makes their shapes close; other fonts draw them differently. A font without the radical glyph may display a missing-glyph box.