1. Strokes

We call the lines that form a Chinese character strokes ( 筆畫 bat1⠉ waak6⠤). There are eight basic strokes. They differ in the direction which the line goes to. Copy the basic strokes. Pay attention to their direction.

Stroke

Chinese Name

English Name

Example

1

 橫 waang4⠢

Horizontal

2

 豎 syu6⠤

Vertical

3

 撇 pit3⠒

Downward-to-left

4

 捺 naat6⠤

Downward-to-right

5

 點 dim2⠜

Dot

6

 挑 tiu1⠉

Upward

7

 鈎 ngau1⠉

Hook

8

 折 zit3⠒

Bend

In a hook stroke (亅) or a bend stroke (乛), although the direction of the line changes in the middle, we still consider the stroke as one single stroke because we don’t lift the pen from the paper when changing the direction.

The eight basic strokes are combined to form other strokes. You will discover them as you learn different Chinese characters in later units.