How characters work
What you'll learn What a character is made of, strokes and parts that hint at its meaning and its sound, and why some have two forms.
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1 Strokes
A character is written in strokes, in an order that is always the same: top before bottom, left before right. 一, one, is a single stroke. 口, a mouth, is three.
You don't need to write characters to read them, but the order helps you remember them. The same few shapes come back again and again.
2 Parts
Most characters are built of two parts: one that hints at what it means, and one that hints at how it sounds.
| character | a hint at its meaning | a hint at its sound |
|---|---|---|
| 妈媽 mā, mother | 女, woman | 马馬 mǎ |
| 吗嗎 ma, the question word | 口, mouth: it is said | 马馬 mǎ |
| 们們 men, more than one person | a person, standing at the left | 门門 mén |
The hints are only hints. The sound may have drifted since, and the tone often differs. But knowing a few dozen parts turns most characters from drawings into two things you know. Some characters are all meaning: 好, good, is 女 and 子, a woman and a child.
3 Simplified and traditional
Mainland China and Singapore write simplified characters, 简体字簡體字, with fewer strokes. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau keep the traditional ones, 繁体字繁體字: 马馬 is 馬, and 们們 is 們.
Most characters are written the same in both. Where they differ, the parts are often the same ones, simplified: 马馬 in 妈媽 and 吗嗎 is 馬 in 媽 and 嗎.