Stroke order refers to the order in which individual lines and marks are drawn when writing individual characters. All written text, Latin, Arabic, or otherwise, has stroke order; however, the complexity of Chinese characters (referred to Hanzi in Chinese, Hanja in Korean, and Kanji in Japanese) means that characters with incorrect patterns can have a completely different meaning or be illegible. This wikiHow gives general guidelines for Chinese stroke order. [1] X Research source [2] X Research source
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 2:
General Guidelines
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Write top to down, left to right. Strokes that are written higher typically come first, before strokes that are written lower down. Likewise, strokes written further to the left are written first, before strokes that are written to the right.
- For example, radical 1 (一; meaning "one") is written horizontally from left to right as a single stroke.
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Write horizontal strokes before vertical strokes. When a vertical and horizontal stroke intersect, the horizontal stroke is typically written first.
- For example, radical 24 (十; meaning "ten") is written with the horizontal line written first, then the vertical line written second.
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Write strokes that intersect numerous other strokes after writing the preceding strokes. When a vertical stroke passes through other strokes, it is generally written after the preceding strokes. When a horizontal stroke intersects through other strokes, it is generally written last.
- For example, radical 129 (聿; meaning "brush") has all the horizontal strokes written first, and then the vertical stroke, because the vertical stroke intersects the rest of the character. On the other hand, radical 137 (舟; meaning "boat") has the horizontal intersecting line written last.
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Write right-to-left diagonals before left-to-right diagonals. For symmetric diagonals, right-to-left diagonals come before left-to-right diagonals. Asymmetric diagonals may be written at a different stage based on where the stroke is positioned.
- For example, radical 67 (文; meaning "script") has the right to left diagonal written before the left to right diagonal. On the other hand, radical 38 (女; meaning "woman") has the top diagonal at the bottom written combined first, even if at the bottom it moves left to right, before the right to left diagonal.
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Write center strokes before strokes to the left and right, if the character is symmetric. Symmetric characters generally have the center stroke written first, then the left or right strokes.
- For example, radical 85 (水; meaning "water") has the center stroke written first, then the stroke to the left, then the stroke to the right.
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Draw enclosures before writing inside of them. If a part of a character is written inside of a box, then the box should be written first, with the bottom open, before filling it in with the other strokes. Close the enclosure after filling the box in with a single stroke on the bottom, if the character has a bottom stroke.
- To make an enclosure, start by drawing the left line. Draw the top line and the right line. Fill the enclosure with additional strokes and radicals as needed. Lastly, close that enclosure with a single stroke on the bottom.
- For example, radical 72 (日; meaning "sun") has the left stroke written first, then the top and right strokes. The middle stroke is added, then the enclosure is closed at the bottom.
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Add minor strokes at the end. After all the major elements of a radical are written, the last step is to add minor strokes, if the character has any.
- For example, radical 94 (犬; meaning "dog") has the top right stroke added at the end.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 2:
Practicing Stroke Order
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Use mobile apps. Some language learning apps such as Duolingo and Drops include stroke order practice as regular exercises. Stroke order practice will help greatly when having to write characters by hand.
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Memorize the component radicals. Chinese characters have been greatly simplified to ease up writing and recognition. While traditional Chinese characters are used in some situations, most of the time the simplified Chinese is what is used regularly. In any case, regardless of the complexity of the character, there are several component radicals that when memorized can make it easy to write virtually any Chinese character.
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Try practicing writing the character over and over again. This will help commit the specific stroke order pattern into memory. Continue writing the character until it eventually becomes second nature.Advertisement
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Tips
- There might be slight regional variations in stroke order, usually between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.Thanks
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References
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