# 攵 (radical)



## chajadan

*数教
When it comes to the two characters above, is the difference of the rightmost component significant? I mean, I assume that if I wrote them both the same I'd be understood, but does the average native speaker of Chinese consistently write these distinctly as they show? When I look both of those characters up they actually share the same radical, so, is it worth remembering the difference in my writing?

--charlie
*


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## SuperXW

The right part? You meant the radical what we called 反文旁? “攵”? These parts are the same. The left parts are different. I'm not sure about your question...


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## chajadan

Well if you look, at least using the font that shows the characters to me, the right component, which I'm told by yellowbridge dictionary is the rap radical ⽁, is written differently. , specifically, the 4th and final stroke starts at different positions. --charlie


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## tarlou

I don't think the right parts are different...
And I don't think they should be treated differently. If you change to a different font, the change of each character would be much more significant...


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## chajadan

I've attached a pic as example of what I'm seeing. So I've been told by two people the difference doesn't mean anything to anyone. For now I'll go with that. I never assumed the difference would make me misunderstood, but in the interests of perfect writing, proportion, etc., though maybe it mattered or that people wrote with it in mind.

--charlie


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## SuperXW

chajadan said:


> Well if you look, at least using the font that shows the characters to me, the right component, which I'm told by yellowbridge dictionary is the rap radical ⽁, is written differently. , specifically, the 4th and final stroke starts at different positions. --charlie


Ok...You were being very meticulous! 
They may not be exactly identical in some fonts, but they are still the same radical. I checked the yellowbridge dictionary and they are both "rap, tap; radical number 66".
Chinese characters are aesthetic individuals, while radicals are just "parts" whose shapes could be modified for balancing the whole character. Radicals don't have to be exactly the same in size, length and position, as long as there's no strokes adding or missing.
In fact, if you research more different characters with same radicals, you'll find few of them are exactly the same in graphics.
收 攸 改 攻 攼 攽 放 玫 政 敀 敂 敃 敄 故 敇 效 敉 敌 敖 敏 救 敕 败 教 敛 敝 敢 敩 敨 敜 敞 散 敦 敬 数 敻 敌 敷 数 整 敛


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## zhg

To be honest I personally miswrote the rightmost part of 教 数 ,which should be 反文旁 with _four_ strokes: the second and the third stroke are seperated, with a 折文旁 like in the upmost of 各,备 which only has _three_ strokes. I think this is the mistake you should pay attention to.Though I know it's the incorrect writing but I just could not help it beacause it has already become part of my poor handwritings or should I say my uniqueness


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## chajadan

Yes, thank you zhg, that is one thing I do currently pay attention to. Though, the way you say you write it, with 3 strokes rather than 4, I doubt anyone is ever confused by that form of writing.  --charlie


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## yuechu

You have a good eye, Charlie! I did not even notice there was a slight difference until you pointed it out. (although it is thankfully one which does not change the meaning of the characters. The smallest differences I've seen are ones such as 日曰，己已巳, 人入, 士土, 下卞, etc)

About this "rap" radical/反文旁: does anyone know exactly what this radical means? Is it supposed to mean "rap" as in "a quick, smart, or light blow" and 反文旁 since it is the "opposite" of the character "文"?


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## Ghabi

^We still use this word in Cantonese (pronounced bok1), although it's usually written as 扑, not 攴. Generally it means "to strike someone (with an elongated object like a club)", but in more vulgar speech it has the meaning of "to screw".


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## yuechu

Thanks, Ghabi !


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## benjamincai

#6
SuperWX have explained very clearly and I want to add a point too.
数 is a simplified Chinese character
教 is a traditional Chinese character which the simplified one is the same

For those characters which traditional Chinese are same with simplified Chinese, the computer will use font family for traditional Chinese.
Because making a font family require amount of work for Chinese characters, therefore, the developer is not making another font for the simplified Chinese character if they are same as traditional one.

This also explain why out there on the web have only few Chinese font family while numerous English font. Also, when you use a font found on the web, there may be a chance that many words are missing too.


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