Chinese Key Academy - Lesson 01 汉字的基本笔画Basic Strokes of Chinese Character

Chinese characters are made out of simple basic strokes. A good first step to learn Chinese characters is to learn the basic strokes.

笔画指书写汉字时不间断的一次连续写成的一个线条，因此笔画是汉字最基本的书写单位。汉字中共有八种基本笔画，他们分别是“横、竖、撇、捺、点、钩、折、提”。

Chinese characters have complex structures, but if they are disintegrated, some basic strokes–the minimum components, will be exposed. Mastering how to write the basic strokes is a necessary step before being able to write correct and beautiful characters.

Chinese characters are square-shaped written symbols to record the Chinese language. They are composed at three levels: strokes, components and the whole characters. Strokes are the smallest constituents of Chinese characters. In writing, a single movement of the pen (from the point where it touches the paper to the place where it is lifted) is called a stroke.

笔画名称 (Name of the Strokes):

①横 ②竖钩 ③提 ④横 ⑤撇 ⑥横撇 ⑦捺 ⑧点

There are thousands of different characters, but you needn't worry about that at all. If we take them apart, we can expose the basic strokes—the smallest components of Chinese Character.

最基本的笔画有以下八种：

There are eight basic strokes of Chinese Character, listed in the following chart:

笔画名称 Name	笔画形态 Form	例字 Examples
横[héng] horizontal stroke	一	一二三
竖[shù] vertical stroke	〡	十土王
撇[piě] left-falling stroke	丿	人入八
捺[nà] right-falling stroke	㇏	人入八
点[diǎn] dot stroke	、	点江六
提[tí] rising stroke	㇀	打冰块
钩[gōu] hook stroke	亅	小才我
折[zhé] folding stroke	?	习口奶