5394
My explanatory Kanji dictionary lists 山 and 冂 as radicals used in 出. I see how
the first one would be used, but cannot understand the reasoning for the
second one.

I see two alternatives:

  * 冂 is used to give the reading of 出 

Or, more likely

  * I don't fully understand the idea behind radicals :-)

Could someone please explain?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-01T05:52:08.180
5393
2018-08-20T18:03:39.877
2012-05-03T05:53:40.630
question
kanji radicals
kanji composition question -- why these radicals for 出?
This is just the opinion of your dictionary. According to the KRADFILE, 出 has
these radicals:

```

    #
    #                           K R A D F I L E
    #
    #       Copyright 2001/2005 Michael Raine, James Breen and the Electronic
    #       Dictionary Research & Development Group at Monash University.
    #       See: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/groups/edrdg/licence.html
    #       for permissions for use and redistribution.
    [ ... big snip ... ]
    出 : ｜ 山
    [ ... bigger snip ... ]
    
```

So, "vertical stick" and mountain are the radicals according to this source,
which is located here: <http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/kradinf.html>

Actually, a better terminology is radical plus components. A kanji is
understood to have one primary component. This is called the radical. The
others are components.

So kradfile says ｜ is the radical, and the kanjidic agrees. The latter states
that this character has the No. 2 radical. This No. 2 refers to the Kang-Xi
214 radical index.

See: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kangxi_radicals> . Here you can
learn the name of that No. 2 stick in Chinese and Japanese.

Wictionary assigns a different radical from Kanjidic:
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%BA> . They cite Radical No. 17, 凵 . This
opinion is justifiable. When we draw the kanji, we make that shape first, then
the vertical line, and then the bottom box.

Offline source: Jack Halpern's _The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary_ sides
with Wictionary: it assigns Radical 17 also.

Unicode Unihan data: <http://www.unicode.org/cgi-
bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=51FA> Radical 17, again.

However, 冂 as a radical or component of 出? Nonsensical. Perhaps a typo.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-01T06:42:40.157
5394
2012-05-01T06:59:46.313
2012-05-01T06:59:46.313
1266
1266
5393
answer
As the other answer says,「冂」is definitely not a component of「出」.

「出」originally depicted something very simple: a foot「止」exiting out of a
cave「凵」, indicating the meaning _exit_. Unfortunately, the shape has changed
too much over the years to make this construction obvious nowadays.

# `[商](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty)  
[甲](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OxVsX.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OxVsX.png)  
  
[合集10405](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&bh=10405&jgwfl=)``[西周](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou)  
[金](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oopKm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oopKm.png)  
頌壺  
[集成9731](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=9731&jgwfl=)``  
[篆](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dLyxE.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dLyxE.png)  
[說文解字](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi)  
``[秦](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty)  
[簡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gRUhv.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gRUhv.png)  
[睡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts)ㆍ[雜](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/qinwenzi/reference/reference)  
``現代  
[楷](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script)  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sRsvr.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sRsvr.png)  
  
`

For reference,

# `商  
甲  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WBKkY.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WBKkY.png)  
  
[合集33193](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&bh=33193&jgwfl=)``西周  
金  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/clsoZ.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/clsoZ.png)  
琱生簋  
[集成4292](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=4292&jgwfl=)``秦  
簡  
[![!\[enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lRWa0.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lRWa0.png)  
睡ㆍ[為](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/qinwenzi/reference/reference)  
``現代  
楷  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6fxwt.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6fxwt.png)  
  
`
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-20T18:03:39.877
60988
2018-08-20T18:03:39.877
26510
5393
answer