Draft:Chinese character strokes

Chinese characters
Chinese family of scripts Written Chinese Kanji Hanja Chữ Hán
Historical forms and styles Neolithic symbols in China Oracle bone Bronze Seal (Bird-worm Large Small) Clerical Cursive Semi-cursive Regular Flat brush Typefaces Fangsong Ming Sans-serif
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Collation and standards Character-form standards Jiu zixing Xin zixing Kangxi Dictionary forms (1716) General Standard Chinese Characters (mainland China, 2013) Graphemes of Commonly-used Chinese characters (Hong Kong, 2007) Standard Form of National Characters (Taiwan, 1982) Grapheme-usage standards General Standard Characters (PRC, 2013) Jōyō kanji (Japan, 2010) Other standards Standardized Forms of Words with Variant Forms (PRC, 2002) Nan Min Recommended Characters (Taiwan, 2009) Previous standards Commonly-used Characters (PRC, 1988) Tōyō kanji (Japan, 1946)
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Transliteration of Chinese
v t e

Strokes (

, and implementing support for the writing system on computers.

Emergence

as illustrated by

Historical evolution of the character 馬 'horse'

Oracle	Bronze	Seal		Clerical	Regular
		Large	Small		Traditional	Simplified

Formation

When writing radicals, a single stroke includes all the motions necessary to produce a given part of a character before lifting the writing instrument from the writing surface; thus, a single stroke may have abrupt changes in direction within the line. For example:

• (Vertical / shù) is classified as a basic stroke because it is a single stroke that forms a line moving in one direction.
• writing instrument
  from the writing surface.

Direction

All strokes have direction. They are unidirectional and start from one entry point. As such, they are usually not written in the reverse direction by native users. Here are some examples:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Number

Stroke number, or stroke count, is the number of strokes of a Chinese character. Stroke number plays an important role in Chinese character sorting, teaching and computer information processing. ^[2] Stroke numbers vary dramatically from characters to characters, for example, the characters 一 and 乙 have only one stroke, while 齉 has 36, and 龘 (composed of 龍; 'dragon' in triplicate) has 48. Among characters encoded in Unicode, the one with the highest number of strokes is 𪚥 (the aforementioned 'dragon', instead in quadruplicate), with a total of 64.^[3]

Counting

There are effective methods to count the strokes of a Chinese character correctly. First of all, stroke counting is to be carried out on the standard regular form (标准楷体; 標準楷體) of the character, and according to its stroke order. And if needed, a standard list of strokes or list of stroke orders issued by the authoritative institution should be consulted.^{[4] [5]}

If two strokes are connected at the endpoints, whether they are separated into two strokes or linked into one stroke can be judged by the following rules: ^[6]

• If the two strokes are connected in the upper left corner of a character or component, then separate them into two strokes, such as: 厂 (stroke order: ㇐㇓), 口 (㇑㇕㇐) and 日 (㇑㇕㇐㇐).
• If they are connected in the upper right corner, then one stroke, such as: 口 (㇑㇕㇐), 月 (㇓㇆㇐㇐), 句 (㇓㇆㇑㇕㇐).
• If they are connected in the lower left corner, then if it is a fully enclosed structure, then count as two separated strokes, such as: 口 (㇑㇕㇐), 回 (㇑㇕㇑㇕㇐㇐), 田 (㇑㇕㇐㇑㇐) ^[a]; if it is not fully enclosed, then count as one stroke, such as: 山 (㇑㇗㇑), 区 (㇐㇓㇔㇗), 葛 (㇐㇑㇑㇑㇕㇐㇐㇓㇆㇓㇔㇗) ^[b].
• If they are connected in the lower right corner, then two strokes, such as: 口 (㇑㇕㇐), 回 (㇑㇕㇑㇕㇐㇐), 田 (㇑㇕㇐㇑㇐).

An important prerequisite for connecting two strokes into one stroke is: the tail of the first stroke is connected with the head of the second stroke.

Distribution

Chart of Standard Forms of Common National Characters (常用國字標準字體表) is a standard character set of 4,808 characters issued by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan (ROC). The stroke numbers of a character range from 1 to 32 strokes. The 11-strokes group has the most characters, taking 9.297% of the character set. On the average, there are 12.186 strokes per character.^[5][7]

The List of Frequently Used Characters in Modern Chinese (现代汉语常用字表) is a standard character set of 3,500 characters issued by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.^[8] The stroke numbers of characters range from 1 to 24 strokes. The 9-strokes characters are the most, taking 11.857% of the character set. On the average, there are 9.7409 strokes per character.^[4]

The Unicode Basic CJK Unified Ideographs is an international standard character set issued by ISO and Unicode, the same character set of the China national standard 13000.1. There are 20,902 Chinese characters, including simplified and traditional characters from China, Japan and Korea (CJK).^{[9] [7]} The stroke numbers of characters range from 1 to 48 strokes. The 12-strokes group has the most characters, taking 9.358% of the character set. On the average, there are 12.845 strokes per character.^[10]

A stroke table functions in the Chinese writing system somewhat like the Latin alphabet does in English.

Ordering

The term stroke order can refer to one of two concepts:

• The direction in which a stroke is written—for example, the heng (㇐; 'horizontal') stroke is made horizontally from left to right, while the shu (㇑; 'vertical') stroke is written vertically from top to bottom.
• The order in which strokes are written one by one to form a Chinese character.

Because the direction of strokes is relatively simple, people generally refer to the latter meaning when talking about stroke order.

The most basic rules of stroke order are:

1. Heng, (㇐) then shu (㇑).

   Examples: 十、卄．

2. Pie, (丿) then na (㇏).

   Examples: 乂、文．

3. Up, then down.

   Examples: 三、旦．

4. Left, then right.

   Examples: 川、好．

5. Outside, then inside.

   Examples: 同、廣、司．

The stroke orders of 笔; 筆 and 顺; 順 are

筆：㇓㇐㇔㇓㇐㇔㇕㇐㇐㇐㇐㇑

笔：㇓㇐㇔㇓㇐㇔㇓㇐㇐㇟

順：㇓㇑㇑㇐㇓㇑㇕㇐㇐㇐㇓㇔

顺：㇓㇑㇑㇐㇓㇑㇕㇓㇔

The order of strokes is a summary of people's experience in writing Chinese characters correctly and conveniently. It plays an important role in the teaching, sorting and computer information processing of Chinese characters. The stroke order of cursive script (草書) is quite flexible and changeable, so the standard of stroke order generally refers to the stroke order of regular script (楷書).

The current stroke order standards are

• China's Stroke Orders of the Commonly-used Standard Chinese Characters (通用规范汉字笔顺规范^[4]), and
• Taiwan's Handbook of the Stroke Orders of the Commonly-used National Chinese Characters (常用國字標準字體筆順手册^[5]).

Sorting

Stroke order refers to the order in which the strokes of a Chinese character are written. A stroke is a movement of a writing instrument on a writing surface. Certain

, one must know how to write CJK strokes, and thus, needs to identify the basic strokes that make up a character. Chinese characters can be sorted into different orders by their strokes. The important stroke-based sorting methods include: Stroke-count sorting, Stroke-count-stroke-order sorting, and .

By stroke count

Characters may be sorted by total number of strokes. For example, the different characters in 汉字笔画、漢字筆劃 are sorted into:

• 汉 (5)
• 字 (6)
• 画 (8)
• 笔、筆、畫 (12)
• 漢 (14)

By stroke order

The characters are firstly arranged by their first strokes according to an order of stroke groups—such as

or

then the characters with first strokes belonging to the same group, if any, are sorted by their second strokes in a similar way, and so on. This method is usually employed to support stroke-count sorting to deal with characters of the same stroke number. For instance, 筆 (12) starts with stroke ㇓ of the pie (撇) group, and 畫 (12) starts with ㇕ of the zhe (折) group, and pie is before zhe in groups order, so 筆 goes before 畫.

Stroke–count–stroke–order sorting

This is a combination of the previous two methods. In China, stroke-based sorting normally refers to stroke–count–stroke–order sorting. The Chinese national standard stroke-based sorting is in fact an enhanced stroke-count-stroke-order method ^[11] Characters are arranged by stroke count, followed by stroke order. For example, the different characters in 汉字笔画、漢字筆劃 are sorted into

• 汉 (5)
• 字 (6)
• 画 (8)
• 笔 (10)
• 筆 (12)
• 畫 (12)
• 漢 (14)

where each character is put at a unique position.

YES sorting

YES is a simplified stroke-based sorting method free of stroke counting and grouping, but without comprising accuracy. It has been used successfully to index the characters in the

Combinations

There are three types of stroke combinations between two strokes (筆劃組合, 笔划组合):[13]

1. Separation: the strokes are separated from each other. Such as: 八, 三, 小.
2. Connection: the strokes are connected, this type can be further divided into two categories:
   1. The end point of one stroke is connected with the body of another stroke
      1. An end of the first stroke is connected to the following stroke's body, such as 匕
      2. The body of the first stroke is connected to an end of following stroke, such as: 上
      3. Both types of connection are used: such as 正.
   2. Two strokes are connected end to end, including head-head (首首), tail-tail (尾尾) and tail-head (尾首). Such as: 厂, 弓, 凹, 凸.
3. Intersection: the strokes are intersected. Such as: 十丈車.

In a Chinese character, multiple stroke combinations are usually used together. Such as: 港.

The same strokes and stroke order may form different Chinese characters or character components due to different combinations. like: 刀力、由田、工土、八人入乂、甲曱申叶. In other words, stroke combinations have the function of distinguishing Chinese characters.

Classification

CJK strokes are an attempt to identify and classify all single-stroke components that can be used to write Han radicals. There are some thirty distinct types of strokes recognized in

, some of which are compound strokes made from basic strokes. The compound strokes comprise more than one movement of the writing instrument, and many of these have no agreed-upon name.

Basic strokes

A basic stroke is a single calligraphic mark moving in one direction across a writing surface. The following table lists a selection of basic strokes divided into two stroke groups: simple and combining. "Simple strokes" (such as Horizontal / Héng and Dot / Diǎn) can be written alone. "Combining strokes" (such as Bend / Zhé and Hook / Gōu) never occur alone, but must be paired with at least one other stroke forming a compound stroke. Thus, they are not in themselves individual strokes.

Table of basic strokes

	Example	Name				Notes
		Mainland	Taiwan	Japan	Vietnam
Simple		点; 點 (diǎn; 'dot')		点 (ten; 'dot')	chấm (枕)	A small dash or speck.
		横; 橫 (héng; 'horizontal')		横 (yoko; 'horizontal')	sổ ngang (𬃈昂)	Rightward stroke.
		竖; 豎 (shù; 'vertical')		豎 (tate; 'vertical')	sổ dọc (𬃈𫆡)	Downward stroke.
		提 (tí; 'raise')	挑 (tiāo; 'raise')	跳 (hane; 'jump')	hất (迄)	Flicking up and rightwards.
		捺 (nà; 'press down')		右払 (migi harai; 'right sweep')	mác (莫)	Falling rightwards and fattening at the bottom.
		撇 (piě; 'throw away')		左払 (hidari harai; 'left sweep')	phẩy (𢵪)	Falling leftwards with a slight curve.
Combining		折 (zhé; 'bend')		折 (ore; 'bend')	gập (岋)	Changing direction when going downwards or rightwards, usually at a 90° angle.
		钩; 鈎 (gōu; 'hook')		鉤 (kagi; 'hook')	móc (鈢)	Turning sharply before suddenly stopping.
		弯; 彎 (wān; 'curve')		左反 (hidari sori; 'left curve')	cong (𢏣)	Curving and tapering off, concave leftwards or convex rightwards.
		斜 (xié; 'slant')	曲 (qū; 'slant')	右反 (migi sori; 'right curve')	nghiêng (迎)	Curving, concave rightwards or convex leftwards.

Compound strokes

A compound stroke (also called a complex stroke) is produced when two or more basic strokes are combined in a single stroke written without lifting the writing instrument from the writing surface. The character 永 (pinyin: yǒng) "eternity", described in more detail in § Eight Principles of Yong, demonstrates one of these compound strokes. The centre line is a compound stroke that combines three stroke shapes in a single stroke.

Basics for making compound strokes

In most cases, concatenating basic strokes together form a compound stroke. For example, Vertical / Shù combined with Hook / Gōu produce (Vertical–Hook / Shù Gōu). A stroke naming convention sums the names of the basic strokes, in the writing order.^[15]

An exception to this applies when a stroke makes a strictly right-angle turn in the Simplified Chinese names. Horizontal (Héng) and Vertical (Shù) strokes are identified only once when they appear as the first stroke of a compound; any single stroke with successive 90° turns down or to the right are indicated by a Bend 折 (pinyin: zhé). For example, an initial Shù followed by an abrupt turn right produces (Shù Zhé). In the same way, an initial Shù followed by an abrupt turn right followed by a second turn down produces (Shù Zhé Zhé). However, their inherited names are "Vertical–Horizontal" and "Vertical–Horizontal–Vertical". We need not to use "Bend" in the inherited names.

Nearly all complex strokes can be named using this simple scheme.

Nomenclature

Organization systems used to describe and differentiate strokes may include the use of roman letters, Chinese characters, numbers, or a combination of these devices. Two methods of organizing CJK strokes are by:

1. taxonomy
   ; and
2. Categorization schemes that differentiate strokes by numeric or topical grouping.

In classification schemes, stroke forms are described, assigned a representative character or letterform, and may be arranged in a hierarchy. In categorization schemes, stroke forms are differentiated, sorted and grouped into like categories; categories may be topical, or assigned by a numeric or alpha-numeric nominal number according to a designed numbering scheme.

Benefits

Organizing strokes into a

over the period of centuries. In addition, the process of recognizing and describing stroke patterns promotes consistency of stroke formation and usage. When organized by naming convention, classification allows a user to find a stroke quickly in a large stroke collection, makes it easier to detect duplication, and conveys meaning when comparing relationships between strokes. When organized by numbering scheme, categorization aids a user in understanding stroke differences, and makes it easier to make predictions, inferences and decisions about a stroke.

Limitations

Strokes are described and differentiated using the criteria of visual qualities of a stroke. Because this can require subjective interpretation, CJK strokes cannot be placed into a single definitive classification scheme because stroke types lack a universal consensus on the description and number of basic and compound forms. CJK strokes cannot be placed into a single definitive categorization scheme due to visual ambiguity between strokes, and therefore cannot be segregated into mutually exclusive groups. Other factors inhibiting organization based on visual criteria are the variation of writing styles, and the changes of appearance that a stroke undergoes within various characters.

Roman letter convention

A naming convention is a classification scheme where a controlled vocabulary is used systematically to describe the characteristics of an item. The naming convention for a CJK stroke is derived from the path mark left by the writing instrument. In this instance roman letters are concatenated to form a stroke name as a sequence of one or more roman letters indicating the component strokes used to create the CJK stroke. The first letter of the Han radical's pinyin pronunciation represents each basic stroke. In a basic stroke example, H represents the stroke named 横; héng; in a compound example, HZT represents 横折提; héngzhétí.

While no consensus exists, there are up to 12 distinct basic strokes that are identified by a unique Han radical.

Letters commonly used in CJK stroke naming conventions^[16]

Letter	B	D	G	H	N	P	Q	S	T	W	X	Z
Stroke direction
扁	点/點	钩/鈎(鉤)	横/橫	捺	撇	圈	竖/豎	提	弯/彎	斜	折
Pinyin	Biǎn	Diǎn	Gōu	Héng	Nà	Piě	Quān	Shù	Tí	Wān	Xié	Zhé
Meaning	"Flat"	"Dot"	"Hook"	"Horizontal"	"Right-falling"	"Left-falling"	"Circle"	"Vertical"	"Rising"	"Curved"	"Slant"	"Bent"

There are many compound strokes, however there is no consensus for sequence letter naming of compound strokes using the basic strokes. The following table demonstrates the CJK stroke naming convention:

Selected named CJK basic and compound strokes

Stroke	Name in PRC	Abbr[16][17]	Full Name	Dictionary meaning and Note	Example characters	Encoding
	横	H	Héng	一 yī, "cardinal number one", "alone" (Radical 1 一).	二 三 丁 丞 丈 世 不 上 十 卅 七	U+31D0 (㇐)
	提	T	Tí		冰 淋 病 孑 治 冶 冽 暴 氾 录 地 虫	U+31C0 (㇀)
	横钩	HG	Héng Gōu	乛 wān, ya, zhé (折) turning stroke / to break (Radical: Variant form of 乙 yǐ).	疋 了 危 予 矛 子 字 令 疏 写 冖	U+31D6 (㇖)
	横撇	HP	Héng Piě		又 水 夕 径 炙 双 叒 今	U+31C7 (㇇)
	横折	HZ	Héng Zhé		口 囗 己 田 品 吕 申 甲 圆 巪	U+31D5 (㇕)
	横折钩	HZG	Héng Zhé Gōu	(Radical: Variant form of 乙 yǐ).	羽 习 包 勻 葡 用 青 甫 勺 月 也 乜	U+31C6 (㇆)
	横折提	HZT	Héng Zhé Tí		讠 计 鳩	U+31CA (㇊)
	横折折	HZZ	Héng Zhé Zhé		凹	U+31C5 (㇅)
	横折弯	HZW	Héng Zhé Wān		殳 投 朵	U+31CD (㇍)
	横折弯钩[16] (横斜钩[17])	HZWG[16] (HXG[17])	Héng Zhé Wān Gōu[16] (Héng Xié Gōu[17])	Unofficial name "HWG" is used by Hugo Lopez.[14]	飞 风 瘋 凬 虱 迅 气 九 几	U+31C8 (㇈)
	横斜弯钩[16] (横折弯钩[17])	HXWG[16] (HZWG[17])	Héng Xié Wān Gōu[16] (Héng Zhé Wān Gōu[17])	heavenly stems", "second"; zhé (折) turning stroke / to break (Radical 5 乙 ).	氹 乞 乤 艺	U+31E0 (㇠)
	横折折折	HZZZ	Héng Zhé Zhé Zhé		凸	U+31CE (㇎)
	横折折撇	HZZP	Héng Zhé Zhé Piě		建 及	U+31CB (㇋)
	横撇弯钩	HPWG	Héng Piě Wān Gōu		[[阝]] 队 邮	U+31CC (㇌)
	横折折折钩	HZZZG	Héng Zhé Zhé Zhé Gōu	𠄎 nǎi, archaic form of 乃 "then", "really, indeed", "namely", "you, your".	乃 孕 仍	U+31E1 (㇡)
	竖	S	Shù	丨 gě, gǔn, "vertical line" (Radical 2 丨).	丩 中 串 讧 乍 上 五 丑	U+31D1 (㇑)
	竖钩	SG	Shù Gōu	亅 jué, "a vertical line with a hook" (Radical 6 亅).	爭 事 求 水	U+31DA (㇚)
	竖提	ST	Shù Tí		以 比 切 卯 食 良 艮 很 狠 鄉 民	U+31D9 (㇙)
	竖折	SZ	Shù Zhé		断 陋 继 山 互 彙 牙 乐 东	U+31D7 (㇗)
	竖弯	SW	Shù Wān	—	區 亡 妄 四	U+31C4 (㇄)
	竖弯左	SWZ	Shù Wān Zuǒ		肅 嘯 蕭 簫	U+31D8 (㇘)
	竖弯钩	SWG	Shù Wān Gōu	乚 yǐn, "hidden", "mysterious", "small", usually read as 隱 / 隐 yǐn (Radical: Variant form of 乙 yǐ).	乱 己 已 巳	U+31DF (㇟)
	竖折折	SZZ	Shù Zhé Zhé		亞 鼎 卐 吳 专	U+31DE (㇞)
	竖折弯钩[16] (竖折折钩[17])	SZWG[16] (SZZG[17])	Shù Zhé Wān Gōu[16] (Shù Zhé Zhé Gōu[17])		亏 强 弓 丏 丐 与 马 鸟 丂 号	U+31C9 (㇉)
	撇	P	Piě	丿 usually read as 撇 piě, "line", "slash" (Radical 4 丿).	乂 爻 禾 毛 乏 乖 釆 衣 八 行	U+31D2 (㇒)
	竖撇	SP	Shù Piě		乃 月 用 齊 几 人 班 大	U+31D3 (㇓)
	撇钩	PG	Piě Gōu		乄	U+31E2 (㇢)
	撇折	PZ	Piě Zhé		弘 玄 公 厶 翁	U+31DC (㇜)
	撇点	PD	Piě Diǎn	𡿨 quǎn, a little drain between fields, usually read as 畎 quǎn (Radical 47 巛).	女 巛 巡 獵 災 甾	U+31DB (㇛)
	点	D	Diǎn	丶 zhǔ, "dot", usually read as 點 / 点 diǎn (Radical 3 丶).	丸 叉 义 永 冰 凡 丹 主 求 火 刃	U+31D4 (㇔)
	捺	N	Nà	㇏ usually read as 捺 nà.	大 人 天 入 走 边 廷 尺	U+31CF (㇏)
	提捺	TN	Tí Nà	(1) 乀 fú, "stretch". (2) 乁 yí, "to move" (archaic).	尐 之 道 八 入 廻	U+31DD (㇝)
	斜钩	XG	Xié Gōu		戈 弋 戰 我	U+31C2 (㇂)
	扁斜钩	BXG	Biǎn Xié Gōu		心 必 沁 惢 蕊	U+31C3 (㇃)
	弯钩	WG	Wān Gōu		狐 狱 豹 家 啄 嶽 貓 家 逐	U+31C1 (㇁)
	圈	Q	Quān	〇; líng; 'zero', also read as 圈; quān; 'circle'. Rare.	〇 㔔 㪳 㫈	U+31E3 (㇣)

Some strokes have been unified or abandoned in Unicode:

CJK basic and compound strokes which have been unified or abandoned

Stroke	Name in PRC	Abbr	Full Name	Note	Example characters
	横撇弯	HPW[14]	Héng Piě Wān	It only appears in Song typeface .	辶 过 边
	竖折撇	SZP[17]	Shù Zhé Piě	This stroke has been merged into stroke SZZ in Unicode.[18]	专 𧦮 𤓷 𤦡
	竖折折弯钩	SZZWG[14]	Shù Zhé Zhé Wān Gōu	This stroke has been merged into stroke SZZG in Unicode.[18]	弓 丐
	弯	W[14]	Wān	It never occurs alone, only appears inside compound strokes.	辶 豕 𢀓
	弯钩	WG[14]	Wān Gōu	It never occurs alone, only appears inside compound strokes.	乙
	点捺	DN[17]	Diǎn Nà	This stroke has been merged into stroke TN or N in Unicode.[18]	內 全 廴
	平捺	PN[17]	Píng Nà	This stroke has been merged into stroke N in Unicode.[18]	是 走 廴
	提平捺	TPN[17]	Tí Píng Nà	This stroke has been merged into stroke N in Unicode.[18]	辶 之 辷

Note that some names in the list do not follow the rules of controlled vocabulary. For example, stroke P (piě) is not found in the compound stroke PN. The name "PN" comes from 平捺; píng nà, not 撇捺; piě nà. The meaning of 平; píng is "flat", and it should be called "BN" 扁捺 (pinyin: Biǎn Nà) if the rules are to be followed closely. The letter "Z" in stroke SWZ means 左; zuǒ), not 折; zhé). The meaning of 左 is "left", and it is not defined in the naming convention. Moreover, some 折 (pinyin: Zhé) strokes are far more than or far less than 90°, such as stroke HZZZG, stroke HZZP and stroke PZ.

Some strokes are not included in the Unicode standard, such as , , , , , , etc.

In Simplified Chinese, stroke TN is usually written as (It was called "stroke DN", but Unicode has rejected it^[18]).

Abbreviations

Naming conventions that use abbreviated forms of the CJK strokes also exist. After the names of CJK strokes are translated into English, first letters of the English names are used in the naming system. The controlled vocabulary can be divided into two groups.

The first group is the abbreviated forms of the basic strokes.

Abbreviation form of the basic strokes (10 items)

Abbr form	H	V	T	P	D	U	C	A	J	O
Shape of stroke
English name	Horizontal	Vertical	Throw	Press	Dot	Upward horizontal	Clockwise curve	Anticlockwise curve	J hook	Oval
Chinese name	橫	豎	撇	捺	點	挑	彎	曲	鈎	圈

The second group is the abbreviated forms of deformations.

Abbreviated forms for deformations

Abbr form	F	W	S	L	R	E	N	I	M	Z
Deformation
English name	Flat	Wilted	Slanted	Left	Right	Extended	Narrowed	Inverted	Mirrored	Zag
Chinese name	扁	直	斜	左	右	長	短	倒	反	折

“Zig” can be omitted from the naming system. The following table demonstrates the CJK stroke naming convention:

Inherited names of CJK basic and compound strokes (63 items)

Stroke		Chinese name	Abbr form	Full name	Name in Unicode	Example
Ming	Kai
		橫	H	Horizontal	H	三 言 隹 花
		斜橫	SH	Slanted Horizontal	(H)	七 弋 宅 戈
		挑	U	Upward horizontal	T	刁 求 虫 地
		點挑	DU	Dot – Upward horizontal	(T)	冰 冷 汗 汁
		豎	V	Vertical	S	十 圭 川 仆
		斜豎	SV	Slanted Vertical	(S)	丑 五 亙 貫
		右斜豎	RSV	Right Slanted Vertical	(S)	𠙴
		撇	T	Throw	P	竹 大 乂 勿
		扁撇	FT	Flat Throw	(P)	千 乏 禾 斤
		直撇	WT	Wilted Throw	SP	九 厄 月 几
		點	D	Dot	D	主 卜 夕 凡
		長點	ED	Extended Dot	(D)	囪 囟 这 凶
		左點	LD	Left Dot	(D)	心 忙 恭 烹
		直點	WD	Wilted Dot	(D)	六 文 宇 空
		捺	P	Press	N	人 木 尺 冬
		挑捺	UP	Upward horizontal – Press	TN	文 廴 父 爻
		橫捺	HP	Horizontal – Press	(TN)	入 八 內 全
		扁捺	FP	Flat Press	(N)	走 足 廴 麵
		挑扁捺	UFP	Upward horizontal – Flat Press	(TN)	之 乏 巡 迴
		彎	C	Clockwise curve	W
		曲	A	Anticlockwise curve	X
		圈	O	Oval	Q	〇 㔔 㪳 㫈
		橫鈎	HJ	Horizontal – J hook	HG	冧 欠 冝 蛋
		挑鈎	UJ	Upward horizontal – J hook	(HG)	也 乜 池 馳
		橫撇	HT	Horizontal – Throw	HP	夕 水 登 令
		橫斜	HSV	Horizontal – Slanted Vertical	(HP)	今 彔 互 恆
		橫豎	HV	Horizontal – Vertical	HZ	口 己 臼 典
		橫豎鈎	HVJ	Horizontal – Vertical – J hook	HZG	而 永 印 令
		橫撇鈎	HTJ	Horizontal – Throw – J hook	(HZG)	勺 方 力 母
		挑撇鈎	UTJ	Upward horizontal – Throw – J hook	(HZG)	也 乜 池 馳
		橫豎橫	HVH	Horizontal – Vertical – Horizontal	HZZ	凹 兕 卍 雋
		橫豎挑	HVU	Horizontal – Vertical – Upward horizontal	HZT	殼 鸠 说 计
		橫曲	HA	Horizontal – Anticlockwise curve	HZW	朵 沿 殳 没
		橫曲鈎	HAJ	Horizontal – Anticlockwise curve – J hook	HZWG	九 几 凡 亢
		橫捺鈎	HPJ	Horizontal – Press – J hook	(HZWG)	風 迅 飛 凰
		橫撇曲鈎	HTAJ	Horizontal – Throw – Anticlockwise curve – J hook	HXWG	乙 氹 乞 乭
		橫撇彎	HTC	Horizontal – Throw – Clockwise curve	---	過 过 這 这
		橫撇橫撇	HTHT	Horizontal – Throw – Horizontal – Throw	HZZP	延 建 巡 及
		橫撇彎鈎	HTCJ	Horizontal – Throw – Clockwise curve – J hook	HPWG	陳 陌 那 耶
		橫豎橫豎	HVHV	Horizontal – Vertical – Horizontal – Vertical	HZZZ	凸 𡸭 𠱂 𢫋
		橫撇橫撇鈎	HTHTJ	Horizontal – Throw – Horizontal – Throw – J hook	HZZZG	乃 孕 仍 盈
		豎挑	VU	Vertical – Upward horizontal	ST	卬 氏 衣 比
		豎橫	VH	Vertical – Horizontal	SZ	山 世 匡 直
		豎曲	VA	Vertical – Anticlockwise curve	SW	區 亡 四 匹
		豎曲鈎	VAJ	Vertical – Anticlockwise curve – J hook	SWG	孔 已 亂 也
		豎橫豎	VHV	Vertical – Horizontal – Vertical	SZZ	鼎 亞 吳 卐
		豎橫撇	VHT	Vertical – Horizontal – Throw	(SZZ)	奊 捑 𠱐 𧦮
		豎橫撇鈎	VHTJ	Vertical – Horizontal – Throw – J hook	SZWG	弓 弟 丐 弱
		豎鈎	VJ	Vertical – J hook	SG	小 水 到 寸
		豎彎	VC	Vertical – Clockwise curve	SWZ	肅 嘯 蕭 瀟
		豎彎鈎	VCJ	Vertical – Clockwise curve – J hook	---	𨙨 𨛜 𨞠 𨞰
		撇挑	TU	Throw – Upward horizontal	PZ	去 公 玄 鄉
		撇橫	TH	Throw – Horizontal	(SZ)	互 母 牙 车
		撇點	TD	Throw – Dot	PD	巡 兪 巢 粼
		直撇點	WTD	Wilted Throw – Dot	(PD)	女 如 姦 㜢
		撇橫撇	THT	Throw – Horizontal – Throw	(SZZ)	夨 𠨮 专 砖
		撇橫撇鈎	THTJ	Throw – Horizontal – Throw – J hook	(SZWG)	巧 亟 污 號
		撇鈎	TJ	Throw – J hook	PG	乄
		彎鈎	CJ	Clockwise curve – J hook	WG	狗 豸 豕 象
		扁捺鈎	FPJ	Flat Press – J hook	BXG	心 必 沁 厯
		捺鈎	PJ	Press – J hook	XG	弋 戈 我 銭
		撇橫撇曲鈎	THTAJ	Throw – Horizontal – Throw – Anticlockwise curve – J hook	---	𠃉 𦲳 𦴱 鳦
		撇圈點	TOD	Throw – Oval – Dot	---	𡧑 𡆢

Numbering

A numbering scheme is a categorisation method where similar strokes are grouped into categories labeled by nominal numbers. Category numbering may be an index of numbers of types, with sub-types indicated by a decimal point followed by another number or a letter.^[17]

The following table is a common numbering scheme that uses similar names as the Roman letter naming convention, but the stroke forms are grouped into major category types (1 to 5), which further break down into 25 sub-types in category 5.

Example of a stroke numbering scheme^[19]

Type No. Stroke Name Horizontal (一) 1 1 横 Héng 1.1 提 Tí Vertical (丨) 2 2 竖 Shù 2.1 竖钩 Shù Gōu Slash (丿) 3 3 撇 Piě Dot (丶) 4 4 点 Diǎn 4.1 捺 Nà 4.2 提捺 Tí Nà

Type No. Stroke Name ( simplified Chinese and pinyin ) Turning stroke (折 Zhé = right angle turn) or (弯 Wān = curve turn) 5 5.1 横折 Héng Zhé 5.2 横撇 Héng Piě 5.3 横钩 Héng Gōu 5.4 竖折 Shù Zhé 5.5 竖弯 Shù Wān 5.6 竖提 Shù Tí 5.7 撇折 Piě Zhé 5.8 撇点 Piě Diǎn 5.9 撇钩 Piě Gōu 5.10 弯钩 Wān Gōu 5.11 斜钩 Xié Gōu 5.12 横折折 Héng Zhé Zhé 5.13 横折弯 Héng Zhé Wān 5.14 横折提 Héng Zhé Tí 5.15 横折钩 Héng Zhé Gōu 5.16 横斜钩 Héng Xié Gōu 5.17 竖折折 Shù Zhé Zhé 5.18 竖折撇 Shù Zhé Piě 5.19 竖弯钩 Shù Wān Gōu 5.20 横折折折 Héng Zhé Zhé Zhé 5.21 横折折撇 Héng Zhé Zhé Piě 5.22 横折弯钩 Héng Zhé Wān Gōu 5.23 横撇弯钩 Héng Piě Wān Gōu 5.24 竖折折钩 Shù Zhé Zhé Gōu 5.25 横折折折钩 Héng Zhé Zhé Zhé Gōu

Stroke forms and stroke tables

Scholars' estimates as to the number of distinct strokes, per their shapes, are not consistent. From the perspective of Chinese pedagogy, there are relatively few types of strokes, but from a calligraphic perspective, or one of a font designer or artist, more useful types emerge.^[20] For example, the stroke shu (竖, 'vertical') can be further divided into 'long shu' (长竖), 'short shu' (短竖) and 'hanging needle shu' (悬针竖). pie (撇) can be divided into 'horizontal pie' (平撇), 'slanting pie', (斜撇) and 'vertical pie' (竖撇). Some strokes are not included in the numbering scheme, such as stroke , , , , , , , , etc.

Besides, there are ways of grouping strokes that are different from the Unicode standard. For example, stroke is merged into stroke in Unicode system, while it is merged into in this numbering scheme.

Eight principles of Yong

The Eight Principles of Yong explain how to write eight common

could ensure beauty in one's writing.

－ the Diǎn 點 / 点, is a dot, filled from the top, to the bottom, traditionally made by "couching" the brush on the page.

－ the Héng 横, is horizontal, filled from left to right, the same way the Latin letters A, B, C, D are written.

－ the Shù 豎 / 竖, is vertical-falling. The brush begins by a dot on top, then falls downward.

－ the Gōu 鈎(鉤) / 钩, ending another stroke, is a sharp change of direction either down (after a Heng) or left (after a Shù).

－ the Tí 提 / Tiāo 提, is a flick up and rightwards.

－ the Wān 彎 / 弯, follows a concave path on the left or on the right.

－ the Piě 撇, is a falling leftwards (with a slight curve).

－ the Nà 捺, is falling rightwards (with an emphasis at the end of the stroke).

(+ － the Xié 斜 is sometimes added to the 永's strokes. It's a concave Shù falling right, always ended by a Gōu).

()

In computing

The stroke count method is based on the order of strokes to input characters on Chinese mobile phones.

As part of Chinese character encoding, there have been several proposals to encode the CJK strokes, most of time with a total around 35 to 40 entries. The Unicode block "CJK Strokes" (U+31C0..U+31EF) encodes 36 types of strokes:

CJK Strokes[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+31Cx

㇀

㇁

㇂

㇃

㇄

㇅

㇆

㇇

㇈

㇉

㇊

㇋

㇌

㇍

㇎

㇏

U+31Dx

㇐

㇑

㇒

㇓

㇔

㇕

㇖

㇗

㇘

㇙

㇚

㇛

㇜

㇝

㇞

㇟

U+31Ex

㇠

㇡

㇢

㇣

㇯

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

• Chinese character description languages
• Chinese character components
• Chinese whole characters
• Modern Chinese characters

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

• Fei, Jinchang. (費錦昌) (1997). "現代漢字筆劃規範芻議". 世界漢語教學. 1997 (2).
• National Language Commission of China (1999). GB13000.1字符集汉字字序(笔画序)规范 (Standard of GB13000.1 Character Set Chinese Character Order (Stroke-Based Order)) (PDF) (in Chinese). Shanghai Education Press.
  ISBN 7-5320-6674-6
  .
• PRC, National Language Commission (2021). 通用规范汉字笔顺规范 (Stroke Orders of the Commonly-used Standard Chinese Characters) (in Chinese). Beijing: the Commercial Press.
  ISBN 978-7-100-19347-4
  .
• Su, Peicheng (苏培成) (2014). 现代汉字学纲要 (Essentials of Modern Chinese Characters) (in Chinese) (3rd ed.). Beijing: 商务印书馆 (Commercial Press).
  ISBN 978-7-100-10440-1
  .
• Taiwan, 國語推行委員會 (National Language Promotion Committee) (1996). 常用國字標準字體筆順手册 (Handbook of the Stroke Orders of the Commonly-Used National Chinese Characters) (in Chinese). Taipei: Ministry of Education.
  ISBN 978-9-57-090664-6
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CJK strokes.

• Unicode: CJK Strokes, Range: 31C0–31EF — set of 36 CJK strokes
• The Unicode Standard Core Specification: Appendix F - Documentation of CJK Strokes
• Proposal to add twenty strokes to Unicode; this proposal has been approved and is at Stage 6 of the Unicode Pipeline as of July 30, 2007.
• Standardization documents of Inherited Glyphs: List of Strokes for Inherited Glyphs
• Ministry of Education, R.O.C.: Grouping list of CJK Strokes
• State Language Commission, P.R.C.: Chinese Character Component Standard of GB 13000.1 Character Set for Information Processing
• State Language Commission, P.R.C.: Chinese Character Turning Stroke Standard of GB 13000.1 Character Set
• 38 CJK strokes, by Wenlin Institute
• Tom Bishop, Richard Cook: Character Description Language (CDL): The Set of Basic CJK Unified Stroke Types
• Yannis Haralambous: Seeking Meaning in a Space Made out of Strokes, Radicals, Characters and Compounds
• Yannis Haralambous: Fonts & Encodings O'Reilly Media Inc., Sept 26 2007, p. 154-156

1. ^
   As of version 15.1