REVEALED 🈶 The 100 Most Common Chinese Characters

Q: What is the most common Chinese character?

The most common Chinese character is 的 (de) which actually has no meaning by itself but is a grammatical particle used in Chinese.

Q: What are the top 10 most common Chinese characters?

The top 10 most common Chinese characters are (from first to tenth) : 的 一 是 不 了 人 我 在 有 他

Q: How many characters do I need to know to pass HSK1?

If you know 178 Chinese characters , you should be able to pass HSK 1 , which is the most basic exam to define a foreigners capability in Mandarin.

Learn Chinese • By Zoe Stephens • February 7, 2023

100 Most Common Chinese Characters You Need To Know

There are various lists for the most common Chinese characters out there, making learning Chinese all that more difficult.

It’s hard to categorize the top 100 common Chinese characters when there are thousands to choose from.

Tens of thousands, in fact, but don’t worry, we’ve got all the answers here.

Do I need to know all the Chinese characters? No! You don’t need to know them all.

Learning a set of characters and breaking them down really helps to get the hang of learning Chinese characters.

Learn your first 10, then 50, then 100… 1,000… Once you’ve hit more than 1000 you’ll be able to speak pretty fluently.

Get to 3,000 and this is generally deemed the amount that most learners need to be able to read most things.

Chinese characters are made up of one, two, or several Chinese radicals.

They have one of 5 tones and sometimes can have a different tone depending on the context or which character they’re next to.

They can even have a completely different pronunciation depending on their meaning, e.g. 行 can either be ‘xing = to go, OK’ or ‘hang = 银行 yinhang, bank’.

But, don’t fret! The more you learn, the easier it gets – we promise!

You will begin to see patterns within the characters, recognize the same ones that come up frequently and that join together to form a word, and to recognize certain radicals in order to decipher the meaning or the pronunciation.

The more you practice typing or writing Chinese characters, the easier you will learn.

To start you on your journey, we’ve put together 100 of some of the most common Chinese characters there are.

Most Common Chinese Characters || 1-10
Most Common Chinese Characters || 11-20
Most Common Chinese Characters || 21-30
Most Common Chinese Characters || 31-40
Most Common Chinese Characters || 41-50
Most Common Chinese Characters || 51-60
Most Common Chinese Characters || 61-70
Most Common Chinese Characters || 71-80
Most Common Chinese Characters || 81-90
Most Common Chinese Characters || 91-100
BONUS MATERIAL || Most Common Chinese Characters Quiz
BONUS #2 || Common Chinese Characters Poster
Most Common Chinese Characters || FAQs

Play

Most Common Chinese Characters: 1-10

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
的	de	grammatical particle marking possession
一	yī	one
是	shì	to be
不	bù	not, negative
了	le	verb particle marking past tense, completed action, change in condition.
人	rén	person
我	wǒ	I
在	zài	at, located at
有	yǒu	have, there is
他	tā	he

Pinyin

Most Common Chinese Characters: 11-20

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
这	zhè	this
中	zhōng	middle
大	dà	big
来	lái	come
上	shàng	above, on, over/last, previous
国	guó	country
个	gè	general quantifier
到	dào	to, towards, until, arrive
说	shuō	speak, say
们	men	pluralize nouns referring to people

Most Common Chinese Characters: 21-30

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
为	wèi	in order to, for the purpose of…
子	zǐ	child
和	hé	together, with
你	nǐ	you
地	dì	earth, ground, place
出	chū	go out, come out
道	dào	way, path, way
也	yě	also, as well
时	shí	time period, season
年	nián	year

Most Common Chinese Characters: 31-40

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
得	de	to have to / adverbial particle
就	jiù	just, simply, right away
那	nà	that
要	yào	want, will do, need, important
下	xià	below, under, down / next
以	yǐ	because of, in order to / according to
生	shēng	give birth, life
会	huì	can, able, meet, party, society
自	zì	from, self
着	zhe	verb particle marking a progressive aspect (e.g. -ing)

Most Common Chinese Characters: 41-50

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
去	qù	go, leave, depart
之	zhī	subordinator, go, leave for
过	guò	pass, cross, exceed
家	jiā	home, family
学	xué	study, learn
对	duì	correct, mutual, pair
可	kě	~able, may, can
她	tā	she
里	lǐ	neighborhood, half kilometer
后	hòu	queen

If you are still with us, we salute you… we’ve hit the half-way point. Time for the next 50, deep breath, let’s go!
The most common characters in Chinese from 50th-100th…

Most Common Chinese Characters: 51-60

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
小	xiǎo	small
么	me/mo	interrogative suffix
心	xīn	heart
多	duō	many, much, more
天	tiān	sky, heaven, god, day
而	ér	and, furthermore
能	néng	can, be able
好	hǎo	good
都	dōu	all
然	rán	correct, so, like that

Most Common Chinese Characters: 61-70

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
没	méi	haven’t, there isn’t, no
日	rì	sun
于	yú	in, at, for, to, from, by, than
起	qǐ	rise, start
还	hái	still, yet
发	fā	deliver, develop, expand
成	chéng	accomplish, succeed / to become
事	shì	matter, thing, event, accident
只	zhǐ	only, just
作	zuò	do, make

Most Common Chinese Characters: 71-80

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
当	dāng	serve as, act as
想	xiǎng	think, feel, want
看	kàn	see, look at
文	wén	language, literature
无	wú	without, have not
开	kāi	open
手	shǒu	hand
十	shí	ten
用	yòng	use
主	zhǔ	lord, master, live

Most Common Chinese Characters: 81-90

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
行	xíng	go, OK
方	fāng	side
又	yòu	again, both… and…
如	rú	like, as, as if
前	qián	in front, previous, first, former
所	suǒ	place
本	běn	basis, origin, edition
见	jiàn	appear to be, meet with
经	jīng	longitude
头	tóu	head, top, first

Most Common Chinese Characters: 91-100

Character	Pinyin	Meaning in English
面	miàn	face, surface
公	gōng	public, official
同	tóng	same
三	sān	three
已	yǐ	stop, end
老	lǎo	old
从	cóng	from, through
动	dòng	move
两	liǎng	two
长	cháng	long, length

BONUS – Most Common Chinese Characters Quiz

Ready to put yourself to the test with our quick-fire quiz?

Play

Common Chinese Characters Poster

Two Chinese character posters for the price of one… aren’t we good to you…

BONUS CONTENT | Interested in other languages too? Why not check out our list of 100 Korean words to learn, the 100 most common Japanese words and the most commonly used Vietnamese words too.

Most Common Chinese Characters || FAQs

What is the most common Chinese character?

The most common Chinese character is 的 (de) which actually has no meaning by itself but is a grammatical particle used in Chinese.

What are the top 10 most common Chinese characters?

The top 10 most common Chinese characters are (from first to tenth):

的一是不了人我在有他

How many characters do I need to know to pass HSK1?

If you know 178 Chinese characters, you should be able to pass HSK 1, which is the most basic exam to define a foreigners capability in Mandarin.

How long does it take to learn the first 100 Chinese characters?

You could learn these characters, and their meanings pretty quickly if you study Chinese intensively. This is the key, if you have the time, and the drive and motivation, you can learn these in a few hours of Chinese class no problem.

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REVEALED 🈶 The 100 Most Common Chinese Characters