StrokeFox
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How to write 画 (huà, “to draw”)

画 (huà), an HSK 2 character, means “to draw”, “picture” and “to draw”. The traditional form is 畫, 12 strokes instead of 8. On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 画家 (“painter”), 国画 (“traditional Chinese painting”) and 画面 (“scene”). Japanese reads it ga, “brush-stroke”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin
huà
Strokes
8
HSK
2
Radical
田 (“field”)
Traditional
畫

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

As a top-bottom character it splits into 一 (“one”), stroke 1; 凵田, strokes 2–8, written the top first.

  1. top leftrightwards
  2. top leftdownwards
  3. top leftrightwards → downwards
  4. centerrightwards
  5. topdown and right → downwards
  6. centerrightwards
  7. leftdownwards → rightwards
  8. rightdown and right → downwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (8 strokes in Japanese, 8 strokes in Chinese).

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 8 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 8 strokes

Traditional form

Simplified
画 · 8 strokes
Traditional
畫 · 12 strokes · see its strokes

Simplified vs traditional

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

PinyinMeaningsTraditionalIn words
huà
fourth tone		to draw; to paint; picture; painting; to draw (a line) (variant of 划 (huà)); stroke of a Chinese character (variant of 划 (huà)); (calligraphy) horizontal stroke (variant of 划 (huà))畫画家 国画 画面 动画
HSK 2025 syllabus
level 2
2021 standard
level 2
HSK 2.0
in a level 3 word
Words with it
110 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 画

WordPinyinMeaning
画 畫huàto draw; to paint HSK 2
画家 畫家huàjiāpainter HSK 3
国画 國畫guóhuàtraditional Chinese painting HSK 5
画面 畫面huàmiànscene; tableau HSK 5
动画 動畫dònghuàanimation; cartoon HSK 5
图画 圖畫túhuàdrawing; picture HSK 5
书画 書畫shūhuàpainting and calligraphy HSK 6
漫画 漫畫mànhuàcomics; cartoon HSK 6
绘画 繪畫huìhuàto draw; to paint HSK 6
年画 年畫niánhuàNew Year (Spring Festival) picture HSK 7-9

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 2, in list order: