any way to break a complex word into simple components?

[throne7]

Some chinese words are composed of simpler distinct words. Is there any software/tools that can break a complex word into its simpler component?

for example the word (hao) which can be broken into (nu) + (zhi)

好 = 女 + 子

It would be really nice for a beginner to be able to take it apart and learn two new words from one word. So any such software exists?

[889]

Wenlin does this, and much more.

For example, here is Wenlin's component listing for 德 de：

[aristotle1990]

Yellowbridge is a free online tool that does it as well. Check it out on 德.

[throne7]

Thanks a lot. These are exactly what I am looking for.

[feihong]

The aptly-named ChineseEtymology.com is also good.

Their entry on 德

[martin_r]

I think this is a really nice dictionary :

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

and it breaks down characters into radicals eg:

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E5%A5%BD

Click the 好 to look up character dictionary, then the scissors icon for "character decomposition"

(also has nice stroke-order animation)

[jbradfor]

Thanks, I never noticed that. I use MDBG all the time, and missed that feature.

It is quite unfortunate that you need to click on the character to open up the additional information before the scissors icon shows up. It's not a big deal, but it makes it much harder to find.

[TCcookie]

Don't forget the venerable www.zhongwen.com, which also comes in a handy print (book) form.