Chinese Stroke Order Animation

Type Chinese characters to see how to write them, one stroke at a time. Then practice by tracing them yourself. Free, and no sign-up needed.

Try:

Tap a character to replay it. Up to 12 characters at a time.

你
nǐ 7 strokes
好
hǎo 6 strokes

The basic rules of stroke order

Chinese characters are written in a fixed order. You don't need to memorize the order for every character: a handful of rules cover almost all of them. Click an example to see it animated above.

Rule Example
Top before bottom Each horizontal stroke from the top down. three
Left before right The three strokes from left to right. river
Horizontal before vertical The horizontal stroke comes first when strokes cross. ten
Left-falling before right-falling The stroke sweeping down to the left comes first. person
Outside before inside Draw the frame, then fill it. moon
Inside before closing the bottom Frame, then contents, then the bottom stroke seals it. country
Middle before sides The central stroke first, then left, then right. small
Bottom-left enclosures last Parts like 辶 wrap under the character and are written last. this
Small dots last The dot at the top right is the final stroke. I, me

How to practice

  1. Watch the animation once or twice with Play.
  2. Use Next stroke to go through it slowly, counting the strokes as you go.
  3. Switch to Practice and trace it from memory. Hints appear if you get stuck.
  4. Write it a few times on paper, saying its pronunciation out loud.

Not sure how to say a character? Paste it into the pinyin converter, or read our guide to pinyin tone rules.

Frequently asked questions

Why does stroke order matter?

Writing strokes in the standard order makes characters look balanced, helps you remember them, and makes handwriting (and cursive) readable to others. It also helps with handwriting input on phones, which often expects strokes in roughly the right order.

Does it work with traditional characters?

Yes. Over 9,000 common simplified and traditional characters are included, for example 学 and 學.

Is the stroke order the same in Taiwan and Hong Kong?

Mostly. The animations follow the mainland China standard. A few characters are taught in a different order in Taiwan and Hong Kong, so if your teacher shows a different order, follow your teacher.

What is the red part of the character?

That’s the radical: the part of a character that dictionaries use to group it, and often a hint about its meaning. In 妈 (mother), the radical 女 means woman.

How does Practice mode work?

Trace each stroke in order with your mouse or finger. Correct strokes stay on the grid. After 3 misses on a stroke, a hint shows you where it goes.

Stroke data from Make Me a Hanzi, based on fonts by Arphic Technology (Arphic Public License). Animations by Hanzi Writer.