Chinese characters are written with a fixed stroke order (笔顺). Following it is not just tradition: it makes writing faster and neater, helps you remember shapes, and is what native speakers learn from day one. If you write the same strokes in a different order, the character often still "reads" correctly to the eye, but it looks wrong to a trained hand.
The good news: stroke order follows a small set of logical rules. Learn these and you can write almost any character correctly.
| Rule | How it works | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Top before bottom | Write the upper part first. | 三 (sān, three): the top line, then middle, then bottom. |
| Left before right | Write the left component first. | 明 (míng, bright): 日 on the left, then 月. |
| Horizontal before vertical | Crossing strokes: the horizontal goes first. | 十 (shí, ten): the horizontal line, then the vertical. |
| Center vertical first | When a vertical pierces a box, write it first. | 中 (zhōng, middle): the vertical stroke through, then the box. |
| Left-falling before right-falling | The 丿 (pie) comes before the 乀 (na). | 人 (rén, person): left-falling stroke, then right-falling. |
| Outside before inside | Start the enclosing shape first. | 月 (yuè, moon): the frame, then the inside strokes. |
| Close the box last | Fill the inside, then close the bottom. | 回 (huí, return): inner box first, outer frame closes last. |
The fastest way to make these rules automatic is to trace characters and get immediate feedback. Try our free Stroke Order game: it animates each stroke and scores your accuracy. You can also review any character in the character list or read our introduction to learning characters first.
Learn the building blocks in our guide to Chinese radicals, or jump straight into the Match Game to test what you know.