Looking up Kanji radicals on the net

[cash]

Hello, how are you? I am new to this forum and I am thankful for your reading this post.

I want to find an application-- either a website or free software-- that will allow me to look up the components of a kanji. It`s really important that I know the meanings of the different parts of the kanji, but I can`t find any program where I can just cut and paste a kanji and then be given a breakdown of its parts. By breakdown I mean simply the meanings (in English) of the kanji. This makes it easier for me to remember how to write and recognize them.

Do any of you use such a program? If so, could you please let me know?

Thank you so much!:)

C.

[keatonatron]

http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa070101a.htm

[kohana]

Cash-san: Try the WWWJDIC (http://etext.virginia.edu/wwwjdic/wwwjdic.html) and see if one of the dictionaries there fit what you want. Try clicking on "Translate Words in Japanese Text" or "Find Kanji (MultiRadical Method)". Hope that helps. ^^

[cash]

Hello, thank you for your replies. Actually I was able to find something in the "MutiRadical Method" screen of the JDIC. There`s a small little text box at the bottom of the screen that allows you to paste a kanji; it later tells you the Kanji`s components, which you can then individually look up.

Anyway, thanks so much!

C.

[Mukade]

You can find a list of all the radicals and their commonly used meanings at:
http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/radicals.html

The problem with using these meanings (and these are the meanings typically used in dictionaries), is that they don't always have an etymological link to the original meaning of that radical. Also, remember that many of the kanji evolved over time, and what was once written with radical X is now written with radical Y. If X and Y are very disparate in meaning, this can lead to confusion.

I think using the radicals to help yourself remember the reading and writing of the characters is very handy, just keep in mind that the radicals don't always have a semantic link to the character.