More complex kanji are very often composed of two (or more) components, called "radicals". Generally, one radical in a complex character represents the character's meaning while another is used to indicate the pronunciation. Of course, these pronunciations are based on sounds borrowed from Chinese up to a thousand years ago, so it is often not possible to guess what the reading of an unknown character is. It's still very useful to know the radicals, as they will help you find kanji in the character dictionaries. Keep in mind that there are many kanji that have unpredictable readings. Provided with the characters below are some memory aids that you might find useful for learning the characters.