Chinese stroke order
Learn to write Chinese characters stroke by stroke: watch, trace, then write from memory.
Type or paste Chinese characters, or pinyin with or without tones: nǐ, ni3 or ni. Covers the 3,500 most common characters.
Practise 你
Watch the strokes in order, then switch to Trace to write over them.
- Character
- 你
- Pinyin
- nǐ
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- –
- Meaning
- –
- How common
- No. 20 of the most used characters
Most common characters
The 3,500 characters of China’s official list of common characters, most used first. Pick one to practise.
Stroke shapes from the Make Me a Hanzi project, based on fonts by Arphic Technology (Arphic Public License). Readings and meanings from the Unicode Unihan database.
Next: Word counter · Translate · PDF to Text
Report a problem with this tool
How to use Chinese stroke order
Find a character
Type or paste a character or a word, search by pinyin such as hao3 or hǎo, or pick one from the most common characters.
Watch, then trace
Watch the strokes drawn in order and see each step on its own. Then trace over the faint outline with your mouse, finger or pen.
Write it from memory
Write the character with no outline. Each stroke is checked, and after a few misses the right one is shown. Print a sheet to keep practising on paper.
Why use Utils365
3,500 common characters
Every character on level 1 of China’s official list of common characters, which covers almost everything you’ll read in a newspaper.
Checked as you write
Strokes in the wrong order, direction or place aren’t accepted, so you learn the correct way from the start.
Practice sheets to print
Make a PDF with a stroke-by-stroke row and tian or mi grid boxes to trace and write in, for one character or a whole list.
Pinyin, radical and meaning
See every reading of a character, its stroke count, its radical, its meaning in English and how common it is.
Frequently asked questions
Why does stroke order matter?
Writing strokes in the standard order makes characters look balanced, helps you write faster and more legibly, and makes handwriting easier to read. It also helps you remember characters and look them up by stroke count.
What are the basic rules of stroke order?
Top before bottom, left before right, horizontal before vertical, and left-falling before right-falling strokes. Outside before inside, but close the box last, as in 国. In symmetrical characters the middle comes before the sides, as in 小.
Which characters are included?
The 3,500 characters on level 1 of the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters, published by China’s Ministry of Education in 2013. They are the characters taught in school and cover about 99% of everyday written Chinese.
Are these simplified or traditional characters?
Simplified characters, as used in mainland China and Singapore. The stroke order follows the mainland standard; a few characters are written differently in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Can I use it on a phone or tablet?
Yes. Write with your finger or a stylus on a touchscreen, or with a mouse on a computer. The writing box scales to your screen.
How do I make a practice sheet?
Type the characters you want on the sheet, choose a tian or mi grid, the box size and how many rows to practise, then download the PDF and print it at actual size.
Is it free?
Yes. There’s no sign-up, no limit and nothing to install.