The Stroke Order of the Chinese Characters

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The Stroke Order of the Chinese Characters

Youxuan Wang

2011-12-05

Introduction

The present discussion presumes that the reader has already read my article "Five Basic Strokes and their Serial Code"and is familiar with both the names and serial codes of the strokes. Otherwise, please click here to read it.

In what follows, we will first introduce 7 general rules for ordering the stroke sequence of  the Chinese characters before we discuss another 7 supplementary rules. These two set of rules address two types of concerns. They will both be explained with examples.

The 7 general rules are:

A1	先横后竖	The horizontal goes before the vertical;
A2	先撇后捺	the throw-away goes before press-down;
A3	从上到下	from top to bottom;
A4	从左到右	from left to right;
A5	从外到内	from outside to inside;
A6	先中间后两边	from centre to the two sides; and
A7	先里头后封口	from contents before enclosure.

Each of the above seven general rules highlights a hierarchical relation in a binary opposition. By implications, the seven rules mention seven pairs of opposing terms:

(A1) Héng versus shù:

(A2) Piě versus nà:

(A3) Top versus bottom;

(A4)  Left versus right;

(A5)  Outside versus inside;

(A6) Centres versus periphery;

(A7) Contents versus enclosure.

When one stroke moving horizontally from left to right crosses another stroke falling vertically from top to bottom, which should go first? Similarly, when a diagonal line moving down from top-right to bottom-left joins or crosses another stroke sliding also diagonally - but only from top-left to bottom-right, which of the pair should be given primacy over the other? A1 states that when the héng is opposed to the shù, the former is given primacy over the latter. A2 indicates that when the piě is opposed to the nà, the piě goes before nà. Thus, although there are as many as seven rules, the rules are organised by binary oppositions rather than random considerations.

The 7 supplementary rules are:

B1	点在上面或左上，先写	The dot is to be written first – if it appears at the top or top-left of a character.
B2	点在里面或右上，后写	The dot comes last – if it appears at the top-right or  if it hides itself inside a radical.
B3	右上包、左上包的，先外后里	Outside precedes inside – if there's a two-sided enclosure from top-right or from top-left.
B4	左下包围的，先里后外	Inside goes before outside – if there's a two-sided enclosure from bottom and left.
B5	上边未包围的，先里后外	Inside is given primacy over outside – if there's a three-sided enclosure opening at the top.
B6	下边未包围的，先外后里	Outside goes before inside – if it's a three-sided enclosure opening at the bottom.
B7	右边未包围的，先上后里再左下	Top goes first, followed by middle, then by bottom and finally by the left side – if the enclosure opens on the right side.

These 7 supplementary rules are not primarily organised by binary oppositions, but purport to deal with two main types of situations: (a) when there is a dot at one of the three points on the top side of the character (B1-B2) ;  (b) when there is an unclosed two-sided or three-sided enclosure in a character (B3-B7).

A. Seven general rules illustrated with examples

This section of the present article assumes that the reader knows the serial codes of the five classes of strokes. (Click here for a short article on this topic.) In the tables below, we will use three abbreviations:

Ch:             Character 汉字

P.R.:           Principal radical 部首

S.O.:           Stroke order 笔顺

A1. Horizontal goes before vertical – when the two strokes cross each other:

Ch.	P.R.	S.O.	Comment
中	丨	2512	2512
十	十	12	12
土	土	121	(12)-1
士	士	121	(12)-1
干	干	112	112
聿	聿	511112	511112

A2. The piě (throw-away) goes before the  nà (press-down) when the two cross each other or join each other.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
丈	一	134	1-(34)
人	人	34	34
介	人	3432	(34)-32
仓	人	3455	(34)-55
入	入	34	34
凶	凵	3452	(34)-52
天	大	1134	11-(34)
文	文	4134	41-(34)
杀	木	341234	(34)-1234

A3. From top to bottom – when one stroke is placed on top of another.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
三	一	111	1-1-1
乐	丿	35234	3-5-34
了	乛	52	5-2
个	人	342	34-2
竟	立	41431251135	41431-2511-35
音	音	414312511	41431-2511

 A4. From left to right – when strokes are aligned side by side from left to right.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
休	亻	321234	32-1234
川	川	322	3-2-2
相	木	123425111	1234-25111
胡	古	122513511	12251-3511
臼	臼	321511	321-51j-1

A5. From outside to inside  - when there's a three-sided enclosure opening only at the bottom.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
网	冂	253434	25-3434
凡	几	354	35-4
同	口	251251	25  → 1  → 251
问	门	425251	425 → 251
风	风	3534	35-34

A6. From centre to the two sides – if the central stroke is longer than those on both sides.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
兆	儿	341534	(3-41)-(5-34)
办	力	5344	(53)-(44) “力”first.
北	匕	21135	(2 -11)-(3-5)
小	小	234	2-(34)
山	山	252	2-(52)
恋	心	4122344544	41-(22-34)-4544
承	手	52111534	5-(2111-(5-34))
水	水	2534	2-(5-34)
永	水	45534	(45)-(5-34)
非	非	21112111	(2-111)-(2 -111)

Note this rule does not apply to “忄”or “火” as the stroke orders of these two characters are governed by B1 which we will soon discuss.

A7. From contents before enclosure

When writing the囗-class words, we would begin with the first two strokes of "囗"  (i.e., 25). Before closing "囗", we would then write the contents inside the enclosure. When the contents are completed, we close "囗" by writing its bottom héng (一).

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
国	囗	25112141	Do not hastily close "囗" until you have written "玉", "元", "员", or "卷".
园	囗	2511351
圆	囗	2525125341
圈	囗	25431134551
凸	凵	21251	Although "凵" is not closed in itself, the whole word "凸" is closed. Therefore, the bottom long héng in "凸"  is counted as the last independent stroke. Please watch the animation of the stroke order of this word on the Online Handian Dictionary here: <http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE5Zdic87ZdicB8.htm>.

Note that in a complete enclosure like “囗”, the two sides on the left and bottom do not form a single-stroke “L-shaped” zhé. When counting its strokes and describing its stroke order, we should see “凸” as a complete closure, even though it belongs to the 凵-class. In an open “凵”， the zhé “L” (with a turning-point at bottom-left) is one single stroke. In the whole word  “凸” the zhé “L” is broken into two strokes.

B.  Seven supplementary rules illustrated with examples

B.1.  The dot is to be written down first –  if it appears at the top or top-left of a character.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
义	丶	434	4-34
为	丶	4373	4-373
头	大	44134	44-134
忄	忄	442	4-42
门	门	425	4-25
心	心	4544	4-5-44
火	火	4334	4-334 (人)
母	母	55414	55-(4-14)
衣	衣	413734	4-13734

B.2. The dot is the last to be written down –  if it appears at the top-right or if it hides itself inside a radical.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
叉	又	544	“丶”in the middle is the last stroke.
发	又	53544	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
尤	尢	1354	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
戈	戈	1534	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
成	戈	135534	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
我	戈	315134	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
犬	犬	1344	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
瓦	瓦	1554	“丶”in the middle is the last stroke.
玉	玉	11214	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.
龙	龙	13534	“丶”at the top-right is the last stroke.

B3. Outside precedes inside – if there's a two-sided enclosure from top-right or from top-left.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
压	厂	131214	131214 “厂”，“土”，and “、”
厌	厂	131344	13-1344 “厂”+“犬”
原	厂	1332511234	13-(32511-234)
句	口	35251	35251 丿，㇆，口
庄	广	413121	413-121 “广”+“土”
式	弋	112154	112154
或	戈	12511534	12511534 “戈”+“口”+“㇀”
病	疒	4134112534	41341-12534 “疒”+“丙”

B4.  Inside goes before outside – if there's a  two-sided enclosure from bottom-left.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
廷	廴	312154	3121-54; “壬” goes before “ 廴”
边	辶	53454	53454; “力” goes before “辶”
远	辶	1135454	1135-454
道	辶	431325111454	431325111-454

B5.  Inside is given primacy over outside – if there's a three-sided enclosure opening at top.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
凶	凵	3452	34-52
函	凵	52413452	524134-52
山	山	252	2-52
幽	幺	255455452	2554554-52

B6.  Outside goes before inside – if it's a three-sided enclosure opening at bottom.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
冈	冂	2534	25-34
凡	几	354	35-4
同	口	251251	25-1251
风	风	3534	35-34
用	用	35112	35-112

B7.  Top goes first, which is to be followed by middle strokes, then by bottom strokes, and finally by strokes on the left side – if the enclosure opens on the right side.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
区	匚	1345	134-5
匹	匚	1355	135-5
匠	匚	133125	13312-5
医	匚	1311345	131134-5
巨	工	1515	151-5
断	斤	43123453312	(431234-5)-3312

Although “匚” (15) is a radical, its second stroke “㇗” (5) has to wait until all the strokes inside its enclosure have been written down. Thus, the stroke order of “匹” is not 1535 (一，㇗, 儿), but 1355 （一，儿，㇗）.

C. Exercises

C1. Give the PR and stroke order of each of the following words:

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order
丑
丞
乖
傲
势
词
幽
练
承
方
片
贰
辈
瓜
臣
臼
鼎

C2. The stroke orders of the following words are somewhat difficult. Please look them up in the Handian Online Dictionary (Click here: <http://www.zdic.net/zd/>), and watch the animations of their stroke order thereon.

Ch.	PR	Stroke Order	Comment
乃	丿	53	丿，㇡ (Cf. 及)
凸	凵	21251	Note that the whole word is a complete enclosure.
匕	匕	35	丿, 乚
及	又	3-54	丿，㇋，㇏ (Cf. 乃)
叉	又	544	54-4
讯	讠	45512	45 (讠) -512 (㇈, 十) (Note that the last two strokes are a heng and a shu.)
万	万	153	1-53 (㇆, 丿)
噩	口	1225125112512511	12-251(口)-251(口)-1-251(口)-251(口)-1.
敝	攵	43252343134	43-25-234-3134 (丷→冂→小→攵)
方	方	4153	41-53 (㇆, 丿)
脊	月	4134342511	4134342511 (two dots on the top-left, followed by two dots on the top-right, then "人", and finallt "月" (= “肉” )
武	止	11212154	11(二)-2121(止)-54 (㇂, 、)
火	火	4334	43-34 (人)
爽	爻	13434343434	1-(3434-3434)-34 （一→爻→爻→人）
贯	贝	55212534	Top: 5(㇜)-5(㇆)-1(一)-3(丿)
母	母	55414	55-414
登	癶	543341251431	Top: 54-334 Bottom: 1251-43-1
舅	臼	3215112512153	(321-51-1)-25121-53
鬯	鬯	3444445235	34-4444-52-35 (×→ 4 点→凵→匕)

Bibliography

Official publication:

Guójiā Yǔyān-wénzì Gōngzuò-wěiyuánhuì 国家语言文字工作委员会 （PRC National Commission for Language Standardization）. Xiàndài hànyǔ tōngyòngzì bǐshùn guīfàn 《现代汉语通用字笔顺规范》（Standard stroke orders of most commonly used modern Chinese characters）. Beijing 北京：Yǔwén Chūbǎnshè 语文出版社 (Language Press)，1997. URL: <http://china-and-west.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_05.html>

Internet resources:

"Animation of stroke order". URL: <http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/azi/page1.htm>.

Wang, Youxuan. "Configuration of Radicals in the Chinese Characters". Intensive Chinese. 2011-10-25. URL: <http://intensive-chinese.blogspot.com/2011/10/spatial-relations-among-radicals-in.html>.

Wang, Youxuan. "Five Basic Strokes and their Serial Code". Intensive Chinese. 2011-11-12. URL: <http://intensive-chinese.blogspot.com/2011/11/stroke-code-and-stroke-order.html>.

Wang, Youxuan. "The Most Common Radicals in the Chinese Characters".  Intensive Chinese. 2011-10-21. URL: <http://intensive-chinese.blogspot.com/2011/10/shortlist-of-most-common-characters.html>.

Wang, Youxuan. "The stroke orders of '万' and '五'： on the etymological basis of the rules." Handian Discussion Forum. 2011-12-15.  URL: <http://bbs.zdic.net/redirect.php?goto=findpost&ptid=157186&pid=532723>. (Posted in Chinese under my penname 心物和.)

Online dictionaries:

Xinhua zidian 《新华字典》. URL: <http://xh.5156edu.com/bs.html>.

Handian 汉典. URL: <http://www.zdic.net/>.

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