In the dictionary, English words are arranged according to an alphabetical order. Chinese words are often classified according to their radicals. There are 214 radicals all together.

It is very useful to learn the Chinese radicals and their meanings, since each radical gives essential meaning to a Chinese character. Every Chinese character has a radical or the character may be itself a radical. For example, 女 is the character for woman. It is also the radical for other words related to woman:姐姐 = older sister, 妈妈 = mother.Learning Radicals

The following downloadable material from The Learning Lotus Project — This website contains useful visual-based learning materials for Chinese radicals, vocabulary, idioms, etc.:

Learning Radicals (including three Radical Sets): Here are the downloadable first Radical Set with details info about each radical:

Radical Set I Color:Download PDF
Radical Set I B&W:Download PDF

The following radicals with pictures are based on Vivid Chinese, authored by Moanna:

RADICALS

RADICALS

ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
1	偏旁		piān páng	the left- and right-side of a split Chinese character, often the key (radical) and phonetic
2	部首		bù shǒu	the Chinese radical

Here are basic radicals I encourage you to learn:

ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
ID	Chinese	Trad.	Pinyin	English Definition
1	人		rén	man; person; people
2	刀		dāo	knife
3	力		lì	power
4	又		yòu	(once) again;
5	口		kǒu	mouth
6	囗		wéi	enclosure
7	门	門	mén	door; gate
8	土		tǔ	earth
9	夕		xī	dusk; evening
10	大		dà	big
11	女		nǚ	female; woman
12	子		zǐ	son; child
13	寸		cùn	inch
14	小		xiǎo	small
15	工		gōng	labor
16	幺	么	yāo	tiny; small
17	弓		gōng	a bow
18	马	馬	mǎ	horse
19	心		xīn	heart; mind
20	戈		gē	dagger; spear
21	手		shǒu	hand
22	日		rì	sun; day
23	月		yuè	moon; month
24	贝	貝	bèi	cowry (shell)
25	木		mù	wood; tree
26	水		shuǐ	water
27	火		huǒ	fire
28	田		tián	field; farm
29	目		mù	eye
30	示		shì	to show
31	糸		mì	fine silk, Used as a radical only, not as a character itself
32	耳		ěr	ear
33	衣		yī	clothing
34	言		yán	words; speech; to say; to talk
35	走		zǒu	to walk
36	足		zú	foot
37	金		jīn	metal; gold
38	隹		zhuī	short-tailed bird
39	雨		yǔ	rain
40	食		shí	to eat