How to Count Strokes in Chinese Characters (筆畫數): Rules and Tricky Cases
How to count strokes correctly, why turning strokes count as one, and the radicals such as 艹, 辶 and 阝 that trip people up.
Key takeaways
- One stroke = one continuous movement of the pen from touching the paper to lifting it.
- A turning stroke counts as one, however many corners it has: 口 is 3 strokes, not 4.
- Some components are counted differently in different standards: 艹 is 4 strokes and 辶 is 4 strokes in the Traditional glyph standards used by this site’s data, but 3 each in mainland Simplified standards.
The basic rule
Count each time the pen leaves the paper. A stroke can go straight, turn corners or end in a hook: it is still one stroke as long as the pen doesn’t lift. So you need to know which corners are turns within a stroke and which are two strokes meeting, which is exactly what stroke order tells you.
Characters people often miscount
| Character | Strokes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 口 | 3 | left vertical, then top-and-right as one turning stroke, then the bottom |
| 弓 | 3 | the zigzag top is one turning stroke |
| 女 | 3 | 𠃋, then 丿, then 一 |
| 九 | 2 | 丿, then the turning hook |
| 力 | 2 | the turning hook, then 丿 |
| 凸 | 5 | a classic trick question; follow the stroke order |
| 凹 | 5 | likewise |
| 比 | 4 | two strokes on each side |
| 長 | 8 | the Traditional form |
| 馬 | 10 | including the four dots |
Radicals with regional differences
Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China write a few components slightly differently, which changes their stroke counts:
| Component | Traditional standard (this site) | Mainland Simplified standard | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 艹 grass | 4 | 3 | 草 10 vs 9 |
| 辶 walk | 4 | 3 | 近 8 vs 7 |
Dictionaries also differ in how they count radical forms for indexing: many traditional dictionaries file 氵 under 水 (4 strokes) and 扌 under 手 (4 strokes) even though you write them with 3. When a dictionary seems to give the “wrong” count, check whether it counts the written form or the radical’s full form.
Using stroke counts
Stroke counts let you look up a character in a dictionary when you can’t pronounce it, and they are used to order names in lists. Browse our characters by stroke count, or read how to look up a Chinese dictionary.
Frequently asked questions
How many strokes does 口 have?
Three: the left vertical, the top-and-right turning stroke, and the bottom horizontal.
Does a hook count as a separate stroke?
No. A hook is the end of the stroke it belongs to.
Why do dictionaries give different stroke counts for the same character?
Regional standards write some components differently (for example 艹 and 辶), and some dictionaries count radical forms by their full shape for indexing.
Related guides
Basic strokes & their names
The eight basic strokes, their Chinese names and common compound strokes, plus the classic calligraphy lesson hidden in the character 永.
Radicals (部首) explained
What radicals are, how the 214 Kangxi radicals organise every dictionary, the variant forms they take, and how radicals differ from Cangjie’s 24 keys.
How to use a Chinese dictionary
Five ways to find a character in a Chinese dictionary: by radical, by stroke count, by pronunciation, by four-corner code and by Cangjie code or handwriting online.
Stroke order rules
The core rules that decide the order of strokes in almost every Chinese character, with examples, exceptions and why stroke order matters.