KI 1020

Stroke order of Chinese characters

All Chinese characters consist of strokes which should be written in a specific order. Learning the stroke order is an important part of learning to write Chinese characters. At first you may need help from a teacher, book, or other learning aid to determine the stroke order for characters you encounter. The more characters you become familiar with, the easier it becomes to see which principle applies to a given character. In short, learning these following nine principles of stroke order will ultimately save you from having to memorize rules character by character.

1. Write from top to bottom, and left to right.

As a general rule, strokes are written from top to bottom, and left to right. For example, among the first characters usually learned is the number one, which is written with a single horizontal line: . This character has one stroke which is written from left to right. The character for "two" has two strokes: . In this case, both are written from left to right, but the top stroke is written first. The character for "three" has three strokes: . Each stroke is written from left to right, starting with the uppermost stroke. This rule also applies to the order of components. For example, can be divided into two. The entire left side () is written before the right side (). There are some exceptions to this rule, mainly occurring when the right side of a character has a lower enclosure (see below). When there are upper and lower components, the upper components are written first, then the lower components, as in and . 2. Horizontal before vertical

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When horizontal and vertical strokes cross, horizontal strokes are usually written before vertical strokes: the character for "ten," , has two strokes. The horizontal stroke is written first, followed by the vertical stroke . 3. Character-spanning strokes last

Vertical strokes that pass through many other strokes are written after the strokes through which they pass, as in and . Horizontal strokes that pass through many other strokes are written last, as in and . 4. Diagonals right-to-left before diagonals left-to-right

Right-to-left diagonals (, pi) are written before left-to-right diagonals (, n): . Note that this is for symmetric diagonals; for asymmetric diagonals, as in , the leftto-right may precede the right-to-left, based on other rules.

5. Center before outside in vertically symmetrical characters

In vertically symmetrical characters, the centre components are written before components on the left or right. Components on the left are written before components on the right, as in and . 6. Enclosures before contents

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Outside enclosing components are written before inside components; bottom strokes of the enclosure are written last if present, as in and . Enclosures may also have no bottom stroke, as in and .

7. Left vertical before enclosing

Left vertical strokes are written before enclosing strokes. In the following two examples, the leftmost vertical stroke (|) is written first, followed by the uppermost and rightmost lines () (which are written as one stroke): and .

8. Bottom enclosures last

Bottom enclosing components are usually written last: , , , .

9. Dots and minor strokes last

Minor strokes are usually written last, as the small "dot" (dian) in the following: , , .