How to write 看 (kàn, “to see”)

看, an HSK 1 character, is read kàn for “to see” and “to read”, and also kān (“to look after”). As a top-bottom character it splits into 手 (“hand”), strokes 1–4; 目 (“eye”, the radical), strokes 5–9, written the top first. On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 好看 (“good-looking”), 看病 (“to visit a doctor”) and 看见 (“to see”). Japanese reads it kan, “watch over”, as a JLPT N1 kanji.

Pinyin: kàn, kān
Strokes: 9
HSK: 1
Radical: 目 (“eye”)

Stroke by stroke

Left-falling stroke ㇒top rightleftwards
Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and left
Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
Horizontal-turn ㇕centerrightwards → downwards
Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 9 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 9 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 9 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
kàn fourth tone	to see; to look at; to read; to watch; to visit; to call on; to consider; to regard as	—	好看看病看见看来
kān first tone	to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard	—	—

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 1 word
Words with it: 142 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 看

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
看	kàn	to see; to look at HSK 1
好看	hǎokàn	good-looking; nice-looking HSK 1
看病	kànbìng	to visit a doctor; to see a patient HSK 1
看见看見	kànjiàn	to see; to catch sight of HSK 1
看来看來	kànlái	apparently; it seems that HSK 3
难看難看	nánkàn	ugly; unsightly HSK 3
查看	chákàn	to look over; to examine HSK 4
看法	kànfǎ	way of looking at a thing; view HSK 4
观看觀看	guānkàn	to watch; to view HSK 4
看作	kànzuò	to look upon as; to regard as HSK 5

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: