This random Chinese character generator deals one common simplified character at a time. Say it if you can, then tap the cover: the card gives one common Mandarin reading in pinyin, a short meaning and the number of strokes.
Read the full guide
Read it, then check
Press Pick another Chinese character. Say the sound and the meaning if you know them, then tap Show reading. After the first press a Kind list under the button keeps the draw to numbers, people, nature, actions, describing words, places and things, or grammar words.
Count the strokes
A character is built from strokes written in a fixed order. Copy it on paper, counting as you go, and compare your count with the card: 人 takes 2 strokes and 水 takes 4. More filters, the last entry of the Kind list, opens a Strokes row.
Tips
Random Chinese characters of one kind make a short quiz: choose Numbers and measure words first.
The marks over vowels (ā á ǎ à) show the four tones; no mark means the neutral tone.
Questions and answers
Are these Chinese letters?
Chinese has no letters. It is written in characters, and each one generally stands for a unit of meaning, not a sound. A search for random Chinese letters is usually a search for what this page deals: one character with its reading.
Why does a card give only one reading?
Many characters have more than one. The card prints the reading the Unicode Han database calls most customary, and only where Wiktionary and the CC-CEDICT dictionary give the same reading for the meaning shown.
Are the characters simplified or traditional?
Simplified, the standard forms of mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore. Traditional characters are the official forms in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Many common characters, such as 人 and 水, are the same in both sets.
Which characters are on the list?
The most frequent standard characters in the Unicode Han database that passed our checks. A very common character is missing where two sources count its strokes differently, as with 这 and 都.
表biǎo. Surface; a table, a chart; a watch; to show. 8 strokes.
西xī. West. 6 strokes.
话huà. Speech; words; talk. 8 strokes.
质zhì. Substance; quality; nature of a thing. 8 strokes.
路lù. Road; path; way. 13 strokes.
车chē. Vehicle; car. 4 strokes.
道dào. Road; way. 13 strokes.
里lǐ. Inside; a village; an old unit of distance. 7 strokes.
钱qián. Money. 10 strokes.
门mén. Door; gate. 3 strokes.
间jiān. Between; a room. 7 strokes.
题tí. Topic; title; question, problem. 15 strokes.
Grammar words 57
不bù. Not; no. 4 strokes.
与yǔ. And; with. 3 strokes.
之zhī. Genitive particle of classical Chinese, like of; him, her, it. 4 strokes.
也yě. Also; too. 3 strokes.
了le. Particle for a finished action. 2 strokes.
从cóng. From. 4 strokes.
以yǐ. With, by means of; in order to. 5 strokes.
们men. Plural ending for people, as in 我们 (we). 5 strokes.
但dàn. But; however. 7 strokes.
先xiān. First; earlier; before. 6 strokes.
共gòng. Together; altogether; to share. 6 strokes.
其qí. His, her, its, their; that. 8 strokes.
再zài. Again; once more. 6 strokes.
刚gāng. Just now; hard, firm. 6 strokes.
别bié. Do not; other; to part. 7 strokes.
却què. But; yet; however. 7 strokes.
又yòu. Again; also. 2 strokes.
只zhǐ. Only. 5 strokes.
可kě. Can, may; but. 5 strokes.
各gè. Each; every. 6 strokes.
向xiàng. Toward; direction. 6 strokes.
吗ma. Question particle for yes-or-no questions. 6 strokes.
吧ba. Particle for a suggestion or a guess. 7 strokes.
呢ne. Question particle: and what about ...?. 8 strokes.
和hé. And, with; harmony. 8 strokes.
因yīn. Because; cause, reason. 6 strokes.
太tài. Too; very. 4 strokes.
如rú. As; like; if. 6 strokes.
它tā. It. 5 strokes.
就jiù. Then; right away; just. 12 strokes.
己jǐ. Oneself; self. 3 strokes.
已yǐ. Already. 3 strokes.
常cháng. Often; common; normal. 11 strokes.
并bìng. And; side by side; to combine. 6 strokes.
应yīng. Should; ought to. 7 strokes.
很hěn. Very. 9 strokes.
必bì. Must; surely. 5 strokes.
怎zěn. How; why. 9 strokes.
总zǒng. Always; overall; altogether. 9 strokes.
或huò. Or; perhaps. 8 strokes.
才cái. Only then; just; talent. 3 strokes.
无wú. Without; not have; no. 4 strokes.
更gèng. More; even more. 7 strokes.
最zuì. Most. 12 strokes.
极jí. Extreme; a pole; very. 7 strokes.
此cǐ. This; these; here. 6 strokes.
每měi. Every; each. 7 strokes.
没méi. Not; have not. 7 strokes.
由yóu. From; by; because of. 5 strokes.
的de. Possessive particle, like 's or of. 8 strokes.
相xiāng. Each other; mutual. 9 strokes.
而ér. And; but; yet. 6 strokes.
自zì. Self; from. 6 strokes.
该gāi. Should; ought to. 8 strokes.
谁shéi. Who. 10 strokes.
跟gēn. With; and; to follow; heel. 13 strokes.
那nà. That. 7 strokes.
How this list was compiled: Common Chinese characters in their simplified form, with one common Mandarin reading each. The choice and the facts come from the Unihan database of the Unicode Standard (Unihan.zip of Unicode 18.0, files dated 2026-07-31, downloaded from https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/Unihan.zip on 2026-10-01 and read by script; the fields are described in https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr38/). Choice: Unihan's frequency field today is kHanyuPinlu, counts taken from a frequency dictionary of modern Chinese (Xiandai Hanyu Pinlu Cidian); the older kFrequency field named in our plan was removed from Unihan in Unicode 16.0. We ranked the characters that carry kHanyuPinlu counts and are level-one characters of the 2013 table of general standard Chinese characters (kTGH, the standard simplified forms), read the 600 highest and kept the 360 highest that passed every check below (all of them within the 420 most frequent); a few dozen were left out by hand (bound forms with no meaning of their own, and words of war and party politics that are frequent in that dictionary's texts). Reading: kMandarin, which Unihan calls the most customary pinyin reading; a character with other readings carries only this one. Strokes: kTotalStrokes. Meaning: a few English words of our own. Checks, all by script on 2026-10-01: (1) a word of our meaning stands in Unihan's kDefinition; (2) the character's Chinese entry on English Wiktionary (wikitext through https://en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php, CC BY-SA 4.0; where the simplified page only points to the traditional form the check followed the pointer, and x.src names the page read) lists the same reading first in a pronunciation section whose definitions hold a word of our meaning, and every part of a meaning we print stands in Unihan, in that Wiktionary section or in CC-CEDICT under the same reading; (3) the stroke count in the entry's Han character box equals Unihan's, and the 29 characters on which the two differ (among them 这, 过, 还, 都 and 成) are left out rather than printed with a count one source disputes; (4) CC-CEDICT (https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=cc-cedict, file of 2026-09-30, CC BY-SA 4.0), used as a check and not as the source, lists the same reading for the character. Kinds (numbers and measure words, people and the body, nature, actions, describing words, places, time and things, grammar words) are our own sorting by the first meaning printed. After the file was written a script read it back and ran the checks again. Licence: own work