Kangxi Stroke Lookup
Type one Chinese character for its Kangxi stroke count, five-element attribute and pinyin, in traditional or simplified form.
Enter a single Chinese character to see its Kangxi stroke count, element, and pinyin.
What is Kangxi Stroke Lookup and what is it used for?
This page looks up one character at a time for the readings most used in calendars and name study. Type a character and it returns six items: the received traditional form, the modern simplified form, the Kangxi stroke count, the five-element attribute, the pinyin reading, and the tone. A look-up reads no birth data and casts no personal chart, and the same character returns the same items for every visitor.
Strokes are counted by the received Kangxi form, which often differs from today simplified stroke counts. The Kangxi count follows the headword character in the Kangxi Dictionary, and some radicals carry their own stroke rule: the water radical counts as four, the grass radical as six. For the same character the Kangxi count can therefore run a few strokes above the everyday simplified count, and the number shown here is the Kangxi one.
The five-element attribute comes from the traditional mapping of meaning and radical; the pinyin line gives the standard reading and its tone. Both the element and the reading are public properties of the character itself, the same for everyone, and they describe the character only, not whether a name is good, and not any one person.
Both the traditional and the simplified form can be typed, and each folds to one received Kangxi headword. This page only looks characters up: it casts no chart and scores no name. To weigh a full name, build it together with the surname in the Chinese Name Generator, or score a name already settled on with Chinese Name Score.
FAQ
Why is the stroke count here different from what I count by hand?
This page uses the Kangxi count: strokes follow the received headword form in the Kangxi Dictionary, and some radicals add a fixed rule (water counts as four, grass as six). So the same character often runs a few strokes above the everyday simplified count, which is the naming convention, not a miscount.
Can a simplified input still reach the traditional line?
Yes. Both the traditional and simplified forms fold to one received headword before the look-up, and that headword is the character the Kangxi Dictionary records; the simplified form is shown alongside as a reference.
Are the element and pinyin reliable, and can they judge a name?
The element comes from the traditional mapping of meaning and radical, and the pinyin gives the standard reading and tone. Both are public properties of the character itself, describe the character only, judge no full name, and read no personal chart.
Is my look-up recorded?
No. A single character look-up leaves no record. To weigh a full name, score it with Chinese Name Score.
