Kangxi Radicals (Unicode block)

Summary

Kangxi Radicals is a Unicode block. In version 3.0 (1999), this separate Kangxi Radicals block was introduced which encodes the 214 radicals in sequence, at U+2F00–2FD5. These are specific code points intended to represent the radical qua radical, as opposed to the character consisting of the unaugmented radical; thus, U+2F00 represents radical 1 while U+4E00 represents the character meaning "one". In addition, the CJK Radicals Supplement block (2E80–2EFF) was introduced, encoding alternative (often positional) forms taken by Kangxi radicals as they appear within specific characters. For example, ⺁ "CJK RADICAL CLIFF" (U+2E81) is a variant of ⼚ radical 27 (U+2F1A), itself identical in shape to the character consisting of unaugmented radical 27, 厂 "cliff" (U+5382).

Kangxi Radicals
RangeU+2F00..U+2FDF
(224 code points)
PlaneBMP
ScriptsHan
Symbol setsCJK Radical
Assigned214 code points
Unused10 reserved code points
Source standardsCNS 11643-1992
Unicode version history
3.0 (1999)214 (+214)
Unicode documentation
Code chart ∣ Web page
Note: [1][2]

The Unicode standard encoded 20,992 characters in version 1.0.1 (1992) in the CJK Unified Ideographs block (U+4E00–9FFF). This standard followed the Kangxi order of radicals (radical 1 at U+4E00, radical 214 at U+9FA0) but did not encode all characters found in the Kangxi dictionary. Individual characters were listed based on their Kangxi radical and number of additional strokes, e.g. U+5382 厂, the unaugmented radical 27 meaning "cliff" is listed under "27.0", while U+5383 to U+5386 are listed under "27.2" as they all consist of radical 27 plus two additional strokes. More characters were added in later versions, adding "CJK Unified Ideographs Extensions" A, B, C, D, E and F as of Unicode 12.1 (2019) with further additions planned for Unicode 13.0. Within each "Extension", characters are also ordered by Kangxi radical and additional strokes. The Unicode Consortium maintains the "Unihan Database", with a Radical-Stroke-Index. The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository provides no official collation (sort order) rule for Unicode CJK characters (short of sorting characters by code point);[3] such collation rules as there are language-specific (such as JIS X 0208 for Japanese kanji) and do not include any of the CJK Unified Ideographs Extension characters.

Chart edit

Kangxi Radicals[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+2F0x
U+2F1x
U+2F2x
U+2F3x ⼿
U+2F4x
U+2F5x
U+2F6x
U+2F7x ⽿
U+2F8x
U+2F9x
U+2FAx
U+2FBx ⾿
U+2FCx
U+2FDx
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

History edit

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Kangxi Radicals block:

Version Final code points[a] Count L2 ID WG2 ID IRG ID Document
3.0 U+2F00..2FD5 214 L2/97-017 N1182 N202 Proposal to add 210 KangXi Radicals and 3 HANGZHOU Numbers in BMP for compatibility, 1995-03-23
N1203 Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1995-05-03), "6.1.11", Unconfirmed minutes of SC2/WG2 Meeting 27, Geneva
N1303 (html, doc) Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-01-26), Minutes of Meeting 29, Tokyo
L2/97-030 N1503 (pdf, doc) Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1997-04-01), "8.10", Unconfirmed Minutes of WG 2 Meeting #32, Singapore; 1997-01-20--24
N449 Jenkins, John; Wang, Xiaoming (1997-04-14), Naming of Kangxi Radicals
L2/97-154 N1609 N479 Zhang, Zhoucai (1997-06-27), Kangxi Radicals
L2/97-284 N1629 N486 Zhang, Zhoucai (1997-07-07), Kangxi Radicals and Hangzhou Numerals
L2/98-112 N1629R Zhang, Zhoucai (1998-03-19), Kangxi Radicals, Hangzhou Numerals
L2/98-332 N1923 Combined PDAM registration and consideration ballot on WD for ISO/IEC 10646-1/Amd. 15, AMENDMENT 15: Kang Xi radicals and CJK radicals supplement, 1998-10-28
L2/99-010 N1903 (pdf, html, doc) Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1998-12-30), "10.4", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 35, London, U.K.; 1998-09-21--25
N616 Jenkins, John (1999-01-04), KangXi Radical Names
L2/99-073.1 N1969 Irish Comments on SC 2 N 3213, 1999-01-19
L2/99-073 N1968 (html, doc) Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3213, PDAM ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 15: Kang Xi radicals and CJK radicals supplement, 1999-02-08
L2/99-119 Text for FPDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646, Amd. 15 - Kang Xi radicals and CJK radicals supplement, 1999-04-07
L2/99-232 N2003 Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1999-08-03), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 36, Fukuoka, Japan, 1999-03-09--15
L2/99-252 N2065 Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3311, ISO 10646-1/FPDAM 15 - Kang Xi radicals and CJK radicals supplement, 1999-08-19
L2/99-300 N2122 Paterson, Bruce (1999-09-21), Revised Text for FDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646-1/FDAM 15, AMENDMENT 15: Kang Xi radicals and CJK radicals supplement
L2/00-010 N2103 Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2000-01-05), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 37, Copenhagen, Denmark: 1999-09-13--16
L2/00-044 Summary of FDAM voting: ISO 10646 Amendment 15: Kang Xi radicals and CJK radicals supplement, 2000-01-31
L2/02-436 N2534 N955 IRG Radical Classification, 2002-11-21
L2/03-362 N2659 N981 Cook, Richard (2003-10-15), Defect Report on Kangxi Radical Forms
L2/04-423 N2882 Cook, Richard (2004-11-18), Defect Report on Kangxi Radical Forms, revisited
L2/19-175 Jenkins, John H. (2019-04-25), Glyph for U+2F2A KANGXI RADICAL LAME
N5079 N2391 Jenkins, John H. (2019-05-03), Glyph for U+2F2A KANGXI RADICAL LAME
L2/19-122 Moore, Lisa (2019-05-08), "B.4.3 Glyph for U+2F2A KANGXI RADICAL LAME", UTC #159 Minutes
L2/19-237 N5068 Editorial Report on Miscellaneous Issues (meeting IRG#52) [Affects U+2F2A], 2019-05-17
N5122 "M68.12", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 68, 2019-12-31
L2/19-212R N5069R Lunde, Ken (2019-06-20), Proposal to change the font for the CJK Radicals Supplement & Kangxi Radicals blocks
L2/19-270 Moore, Lisa (2019-08-02), "B.4.4 Proposal to change the font for the CJK Radicals Supplement and Kangxi Radicals blocks", UTC #160 Minutes
  1. ^ Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

References edit

  1. ^ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ^ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  3. ^ Ken Whistler, Markus Scherer, Unicode Collation Algorithm, Unicode Technical Standard #10, version 7.0.0 (2014).