Strokes in Chinese language

Regardless of their impressive number and variety, all Chinese characters are composed of less than 30* so-called "strokes". These can be compared to the letters used in English script: They are the smallest components of a word (respectively a character) and cannot be broken up any further.

#	Stroke (variants)	Name (in Mandarin Chinese)	Example character
Basic strokes (without changes of direction)
1		点, diǎn	san1 (Cantonese) / xīn (Mandarin Chinese)
2		横, héng	baak3 (Cantonese) / băi (Mandarin Chinese)
3		竖, shù	zung1 (Cantonese) / zhōng (Mandarin Chinese)
4		撇, piě	deoi3 (Cantonese) / jiā (Mandarin Chinese)
5		捺, nà	jan4 (Cantonese) / rén (Mandarin Chinese)
6		提,tí	gaam2 (Cantonese) / jiăn (Mandarin Chinese)
Complex strokes
钩 gōu
7		横折钩, héng zhé gōu also: 横折, héng zhé	maa5 (Cantonese) / mă (Mandarin Chinese)
8		横折弯钩, héng zhé wān gōu	gau2 (Cantonese) / jiŭ (Mandarin Chinese)
9		横钩, héng gōu	hung1 (Cantonese) / kōng (Mandarin Chinese)
10		竖钩, shù gōu	seoi2 (Cantonese) / shuĭ (Mandarin Chinese)
11		竖弯钩, shù wān gōu	taai3 (Cantonese) / yĕ (Mandarin Chinese)
12		斜钩, xié gōu	gaam2 (Cantonese) / jiăn (Mandarin Chinese)
13		平钩, píng gōu	nei5 (Cantonese) / nin (Mandarin Chinese)
14		竖折折钩, shù zhé zhé gōu	maa5 (Cantonese) / mă (Mandarin Chinese)
点 diǎn
15		撇点, piě diǎn	jyu5 (Cantonese) / nǚ (Mandarin Chinese)
16		撇折, piě zhé	kap1 (Cantonese) / gei (Mandarin Chinese)
17		竖折, shù zhé	seoi3 (Cantonese) / sui (Mandarin Chinese)
18		横撇, héng piě	zeoi3 (Cantonese) / zui (Mandarin Chinese)
19		横折折撇, héng zhé zhé piě	gin3 (Cantonese) / jian (Mandarin Chinese)
Missing a stroke? Let us know!

*Some strokes occur in different variants that can also be regarded as separate strokes. This is why there is no official number of strokes.

Frequently asked questions:

Question: "Do traditional Chinese characters contain other strokes than the modern, simplified characters?"

Answer:
No, both types of characters are using the same strokes from the above table as basic components.

Question: "Which font is used for the Chinese characters in the table above?"

Answer:
The strokes and characters were created using the KaiTi (楷体) font with a font size of 150pt. This font is based on handwriting: the strength of the stokes and lines varies as if a pincel had been used to write them.

Question: "Which font is used for the Chinese characters in the Han Trainer Online Dictionary?"

Answer:
If you are using the (normal) Han Trainer Chinese-English dictionary, the characters are displayed in the font "SimSun". This font uses serifs. It has been designed for printing purposes and can be read easily on screens and on paper. It's the most commonly used font for Chinese texts. However, it's not the kind of font you would use if the result should look nice and natural.
All other dictionaries use the font "KaiTi".

Question: "Are you sure about the average of 13 strokes in a Chinese character?"

Answer:
I know it seems a bit much. And in fact, most simplified characters you'll encounter will have less than 13 strokes.
How does this go together? The answer is frequency-weighted average: It means that the more common characters have a lower number of strokes. According to Chih-Hao Tsai, ...