Every Chinese character is written in a fixed order of strokes. Following it makes handwriting faster and more legible, helps you remember characters, and matters for handwriting input on phones, which expects strokes in the standard order.
A small set of rules covers most characters. Each example below links to a page where you can watch the stroke order animated and practise writing it.
1. Top before bottom
三 (three): the three horizontal strokes are written from the top down.
2. Left before right
川 (river) and 你 (you): left component first, then right.
3. Horizontal before vertical
十 (ten): the horizontal stroke, then the vertical one that crosses it.
4. Left-falling before right-falling
人 (person) and 八 (eight): the stroke falling to the left comes before the stroke falling to the right.
5. Outside before inside
月 (moon, month): the outer frame first, then the strokes inside.
6. Inside before closing the frame
回 (to return) and 国 (country): outer frame, then the inside, and the bottom stroke that closes the box goes last.
7. Middle before the sides
小 (small) and 水 (water): the central stroke first, then the left and right.
8. Dots and small strokes last
书 (book): the dot is written last. Dots at the top-right of a character are generally written at the end.
Exceptions
These rules describe the usual pattern, not a law. Some characters follow their own traditional order, and standards differ slightly between mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. The stroke animations on hanzi.ac follow the mainland (simplified character) standard.
How to practise
- Open a character page and press Play to watch the order.
- Press Write and trace the character stroke by stroke. A hint appears after two wrong strokes.
- Repeat until you can write it without the outline.
Stroke order is shown for every character in every word on hanzi.ac. Start with the HSK 1 word list.