Where 外 comes from
Night-time 夕 divinations 卜; the supernatural, the foreign
How to write 外 (wài, “outside”)
外 (wài), an HSK 1 character, means “outside”, “in addition” and “foreign”. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 外边 (“outside”), 外国 (“foreign country”) and 外面 (“outside”). Japanese reads it gai, “outside”, as a JLPT N5 kanji.
- Pinyin
- wài
- Strokes
- 5
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 夕 (“sunset”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
As a left-right character it splits into 夕 (“sunset”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 卜 (“divination”), strokes 4–5, written the left part first.
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdown and left
- Horizontal then left-falling ㇇top leftrightwards → down and left
- Dot ㇔leftdown and right
- Vertical ㇑topdownwards
- Dot ㇔top rightdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 5 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| wài fourth tone | outside; in addition; foreign; external | — | 外边 外国 外面 以外 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 370 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 外
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 外 | wài | outside; in addition HSK 1 |
| 外边 外邊 | wàibian | outside; outer surface HSK 1 |
| 外国 外國 | wàiguó | foreign country HSK 2 |
| 外面 | wàimiàn | outside; surface HSK 2 |
| 以外 | yǐwài | apart from; other than HSK 3 |
| 外卖 外賣 | wàimài | to provide a takeout or home delivery meal; takeout (business) HSK 3 |
| 外语 外語 | wàiyǔ | foreign language HSK 3 |
| 外地 | wàidì | parts of the country other than where one is HSK 3 |
| 外出 | wàichū | to go out; to go away (on a trip etc) HSK 4 |
| 另外 | lìngwài | additional; in addition HSK 4 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: