Chinese stroke order: the 8 rules that cover (almost) every character

Stroke order looks like 3,000 arbitrary rituals. It is actually about eight rules, and once they are in your hand, new characters write themselves in the order you guessed.

The rules

1. Top before bottom: 三 writes 一, then 二, then the long 一 at the bottom. 言, 言's stacks, all roof components follow it.
2. Left before right: 你 writes 亻 then 尔; every left-right character obeys.
3. Horizontal before vertical: 十 is 一 then 丨.
4. Outside before inside, then close the door: 国 writes the frame, the inside, then the sealing bottom stroke.
5. Center before wings: 小, 水 - the spine first, flanks after.
6. Left-falling before right-falling: 人 is 丿 then ㇏.
7. Inside before outside for enclosures that open at the top or left: 区, 医 fill then wrap.
8. Moving parts last: the walk radical 辶 always writes last - 这, 还, 进 all end with it.

Why it is worth learning

Beyond neat handwriting, stroke order is how the writing is generated in your head - characters you can write are characters you actually know, and stroke-order mistakes are usually component confusions in disguise. It also drives every animated stroke diagram, like the one on 水 or 国.

The exceptions worth knowing

A few famous ones: 乃 writes its hooked stroke before the falling one; 方 does 点, 横, then 横折钩 before 丿; 凸 and 凹 have their own conventions. They are few enough to memorize case by case.

How to practice

Write the first 300-500 characters slowly, saying each component as you write it. Every character page carries the animated order, and any character can be embedded for practice via /embed/字 (e.g. /embed/永, the character whose eight strokes teach the standard forms).