Radical 门

3 strokes

門

We regard this character as a basic building block even though it looks as if it is composed of three pieces. It was originally a picture of a door or gate. Often it acts as a three-sided enclosure (see, for example, Characters 289 and 290).

The stoke order is a relic from the traditional form of the character, and in this case overrides the left-to-right rule for drawing characters.

门口 (5) ménkǒu doorway

/ (On the canal) The lock gate has a wheel that must be turned to open it, but first you must pay money to the fairy when she flies over, and she will release the wheel.