Stroke order rules for Chinese characters
Every Chinese character is written in a fixed order of strokes. A handful of rules covers most characters; learn them once and every new character gets easier to write.
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Why stroke order matters
- Your handwriting stays readable and balanced.
- You write faster, because each stroke leads into the next.
- You remember characters better: the order becomes part of the memory.
- Handwriting input on a phone works best with the standard order.
The basic rules
Tap an example to watch it being written, stroke by stroke:
| Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| 1. Horizontal before vertical | 十 |
| 2. Top to bottom | 三 |
| 3. Left to right | 川 |
| 4. Left-falling before right-falling | 人 八 |
| 5. Middle before the two sides | 小 水 |
| 6. Outside before inside | 月 同 |
| 7. Go inside, then close the frame | 日 国 |
| 8. A dot at the top right or inside comes last | 玉 犬 |
| 9. 辶 and 廴 at the bottom left are written last | 这 进 |
The rules can conflict, and a few characters are exceptions: in 火 the two short strokes come before the middle ones. When in doubt, watch the character’s animation.
How to practise
- Open any character in Writing and watch its strokes one by one.
- Trace over the grey strokes, then write the character from memory — the app checks every stroke.
- Start with the characters of the words you are learning: they appear in the Writing tab by themselves.
Also read: Chinese tones.