Most Common Chinese Characters in Traditional

The most common Chinese characters are 的, 一, 是, 不, 了, 在, 人, 有, 我 and 他, and the table below gives the first 100 in Traditional form. In the frequency count it follows, those 100 characters make up about 42% of all the characters in the text counted. About 1,000 characters reach roughly 89%, and about 2,000 reach roughly 97%.

Treat that as a description of one body of text. It is neither a law of the language nor a study order. The source is named below, along with the adjustments needed to show it in Traditional.

Where this list comes from

The ranking is Jun Da’s Modern Chinese character frequency list, published at Middle Tennessee State University (lingua.mtsu.edu/chinese-computing). The page gives the data as last updated on 2004-03-30, and lists each character with its raw count and a cumulative percentage. The percentages quoted in this article are read from that page: 41.77% at rank 100, 75.81% at rank 500, 89.14% at rank 1,000, 97.13% at rank 2,000 and 99.18% at rank 3,000.

Three things to keep in mind about it.

• It is a Simplified-script list. The characters are published in Simplified, so every entry below has been converted to its Traditional form by hand. Where the Simplified character stands for several Traditional ones, the Traditional character shown is the one that matches the commonest use. For example, the list’s 后 is counted as a single character, so its count includes both 後 (behind, after) and 后 (queen). The same applies to 发 (發 and 髮), 面 (面 and 麵), 里 (里, 裡 and 裏) and 只 (只 and 隻). The list’s 于 is also counted once, so the 於 in row 40 includes 于, and 么 stands for 麼. These merges are covered in detail in one Simplified character, several Traditional ones.
• It reflects its corpus. A count of Taiwanese text would reorder some entries, and words such as 臺 and 灣 would climb. No Taiwan-based count is cited here, so the table makes no claim about a Taiwan ranking.
• It counts characters, not words. The same 的 appears in 我的 and in 目的, and the count does not separate them.

The 100 most common characters

Readings are Taiwan MOE readings (教育部《國語辭典》). Each row gives the pinyin and Zhuyin of the character’s most common reading, then one everyday example word with its pinyin as the MOE dictionary spells it. Many of these characters have more than one reading: 了 is also liǎo, 得 is also dé and děi, 還 is also huán, 行 is also háng, and so on. The example word is chosen to show the reading in the first column unless the gloss says otherwise. Neutral-tone syllables, such as the 們 in 人們, are written without a tone mark. Pinyin shows the spoken tone for 一 and 不 (一些 yìxiē, 一樣 yíyàng, 不行 bù xíng), where the dictionary’s base tone for 一 is yī. Third-tone sandhi is not marked, so 你好 is written nǐhǎo although it is spoken ní hǎo. 部分 follows the MOE reading bùfen (the “portion” sense).

#	Character	Pinyin · Zhuyin	Meaning	Example
1	的	de · ˙ㄉㄜ	possessive particle (“of”, “‘s”)	我的 (wǒde)
2	一	yī · ㄧ	one	第一 (dìyī)
3	是	shì · ㄕˋ	to be; yes	就是 (jiùshì)
4	不	bù · ㄅㄨˋ	not, no	不好 (bùhǎo)
5	了	le · ˙ㄌㄜ	completed-action / change-of-state particle	算了 (suànle)
6	在	zài · ㄗㄞˋ	at, in; (doing)	現在 (xiànzài)
7	人	rén · ㄖㄣˊ	person	大人 (dàrén)
8	有	yǒu · ㄧㄡˇ	to have; there is	有名 (yǒumíng)
9	我	wǒ · ㄨㄛˇ	I, me	我們 (wǒmen)
10	他	tā · ㄊㄚ	he, him	他們 (tāmen)
11	這	zhè · ㄓㄜˋ	this	這樣 (zhèyàng)
12	個	ge · ˙ㄍㄜ	general measure word	個人 (gèrén)
13	們	men · ˙ㄇㄣ	plural marker for people	人們 (rénmen)
14	中	zhōng · ㄓㄨㄥ	middle; in	中文 (zhōngwén)
15	來	lái · ㄌㄞˊ	to come	回來 (huílai)
16	上	shàng · ㄕㄤˋ	up, above; to go up	上班 (shàngbān)
17	大	dà · ㄉㄚˋ	big	大學 (dàxué)
18	為	wèi · ㄨㄟˋ	for; because of	因為 (yīnwèi)
19	和	hé · ㄏㄜˊ	and; with (spoken hàn is also common)	和平 (hépíng)
20	國	guó · ㄍㄨㄛˊ	country	國家 (guójiā)
21	地	dì · ㄉㄧˋ	ground, place	地方 (dìfāng)
22	到	dào · ㄉㄠˋ	to arrive; to	看到 (kàndào)
23	以	yǐ · ㄧˇ	with, by means of	可以 (kěyǐ)
24	說	shuō · ㄕㄨㄛ	to speak, say	說話 (shuōhuà)
25	時	shí · ㄕˊ	time	時間 (shíjiān)
26	要	yào · ㄧㄠˋ	to want; need to; will	需要 (xūyào)
27	就	jiù · ㄐㄧㄡˋ	then, right away	就算 (jiùsuàn)
28	出	chū · ㄔㄨ	to go out	出去 (chūqù)
29	會	huì · ㄏㄨㄟˋ	can; will; meeting	開會 (kāihuì)
30	可	kě · ㄎㄜˇ	can, may	可能 (kěnéng)
31	也	yě · ㄧㄝˇ	also	也許 (yěxǔ)
32	你	nǐ · ㄋㄧˇ	you	你好 (nǐhǎo)
33	對	duì · ㄉㄨㄟˋ	correct; toward	對話 (duìhuà)
34	生	shēng · ㄕㄥ	to be born; raw; student	生日 (shēngrì)
35	能	néng · ㄋㄥˊ	can, to be able	能力 (nénglì)
36	而	ér · ㄦˊ	and, yet (written)	而且 (érqiě)
37	子	zi · ˙ㄗ	noun suffix; child (zǐ)	孩子 (háizi)
38	那	nà · ㄋㄚˋ	that	那裡 (nàlǐ)
39	得	de · ˙ㄉㄜ	particle after a verb (also dé, to get)	覺得 (juéde)
40	於	yú · ㄩˊ	at, in, to (written)	關於 (guānyú)
41	著	zhe · ˙ㄓㄜ	continuing-state particle	看著 (kànzhe)
42	下	xià · ㄒㄧㄚˋ	down, below; to go down	下午 (xiàwǔ)
43	自	zì · ㄗˋ	self; from	自己 (zìjǐ)
44	之	zhī · ㄓ	possessive/modifier particle (written)	之後 (zhīhòu)
45	年	nián · ㄋㄧㄢˊ	year	今年 (jīnnián)
46	過	guò · ㄍㄨㄛˋ	to pass; past; experience marker	經過 (jīngguò)
47	發	fā · ㄈㄚ	to send out; to develop	發現 (fāxiàn)
48	後	hòu · ㄏㄡˋ	behind; after	以後 (yǐhòu)
49	作	zuò · ㄗㄨㄛˋ	to make, do	工作 (gōngzuò)
50	裡	lǐ · ㄌㄧˇ	inside	裡面 (lǐmiàn)
51	用	yòng · ㄩㄥˋ	to use	使用 (shǐyòng)
52	道	dào · ㄉㄠˋ	way, road; to say	知道 (zhīdào)
53	行	xíng · ㄒㄧㄥˊ	to walk; OK; to do	不行 (bùxíng)
54	所	suǒ · ㄙㄨㄛˇ	place; that which	所以 (suǒyǐ)
55	然	rán · ㄖㄢˊ	so, thus	當然 (dāngrán)
56	家	jiā · ㄐㄧㄚ	home; family	回家 (huíjiā)
57	種	zhǒng · ㄓㄨㄥˇ	kind, type	種類 (zhǒnglèi)
58	事	shì · ㄕˋ	matter, affair	事情 (shìqíng)
59	成	chéng · ㄔㄥˊ	to become; to succeed	成功 (chénggōng)
60	方	fāng · ㄈㄤ	square; direction; side	方法 (fāngfǎ)
61	多	duō · ㄉㄨㄛ	many, much	多少 (duōshǎo)
62	經	jīng · ㄐㄧㄥ	to pass through; classic	已經 (yǐjīng)
63	麼	me · ˙ㄇㄜ	(in 什麼) what	什麼 (shénme)
64	去	qù · ㄑㄩˋ	to go	過去 (guòqù)
65	法	fǎ · ㄈㄚˇ	law; method	辦法 (bànfǎ)
66	學	xué · ㄒㄩㄝˊ	to study	學習 (xuéxí)
67	如	rú · ㄖㄨˊ	like, as if	如果 (rúguǒ)
68	都	dōu · ㄉㄡ	all, both	都是 (dōushì)
69	同	tóng · ㄊㄨㄥˊ	same; together	同學 (tóngxué)
70	現	xiàn · ㄒㄧㄢˋ	present, current	現金 (xiànjīn)
71	當	dāng · ㄉㄤ	to serve as; when	當時 (dāngshí)
72	沒	méi · ㄇㄟˊ	not have	沒有 (méiyǒu)
73	動	dòng · ㄉㄨㄥˋ	to move	運動 (yùndòng)
74	面	miàn · ㄇㄧㄢˋ	face; surface; side	見面 (jiànmiàn)
75	起	qǐ · ㄑㄧˇ	to rise, get up	起床 (qǐchuáng)
76	看	kàn · ㄎㄢˋ	to look, watch	看書 (kànshū)
77	定	dìng · ㄉㄧㄥˋ	to fix, settle	決定 (juédìng)
78	天	tiān · ㄊㄧㄢ	sky; day	今天 (jīntiān)
79	分	fēn · ㄈㄣ	to divide; minute	分鐘 (fēnzhōng)
80	還	hái · ㄏㄞˊ	still, also (huán, to return)	還是 (háishì)
81	進	jìn · ㄐㄧㄣˋ	to enter	進來 (jìnlái)
82	好	hǎo · ㄏㄠˇ	good	好吃 (hǎochī)
83	小	xiǎo · ㄒㄧㄠˇ	small	小心 (xiǎoxīn)
84	部	bù · ㄅㄨˋ	part, section	部分 (bùfen)
85	其	qí · ㄑㄧˊ	his/her/its/that (written)	其他 (qítā)
86	些	xiē · ㄒㄧㄝ	some, a few	一些 (yìxiē)
87	主	zhǔ · ㄓㄨˇ	main; owner	主要 (zhǔyào)
88	樣	yàng · ㄧㄤˋ	appearance; kind	一樣 (yíyàng)
89	理	lǐ · ㄌㄧˇ	reason; to manage	理由 (lǐyóu)
90	心	xīn · ㄒㄧㄣ	heart, mind	開心 (kāixīn)
91	她	tā · ㄊㄚ	she, her	她們 (tāmen)
92	本	běn · ㄅㄣˇ	root; measure word for books	課本 (kèběn)
93	前	qián · ㄑㄧㄢˊ	front; before	以前 (yǐqián)
94	開	kāi · ㄎㄞ	to open; to start	開始 (kāishǐ)
95	但	dàn · ㄉㄢˋ	but	但是 (dànshi)
96	因	yīn · ㄧㄣ	cause, because	原因 (yuányīn)
97	只	zhǐ · ㄓˇ	only (this count also includes 隻 zhī, the measure word for animals)	只有 (zhǐyǒu)
98	從	cóng · ㄘㄨㄥˊ	from	從來 (cónglái)
99	想	xiǎng · ㄒㄧㄤˇ	to think; to want to	想法 (xiǎngfǎ)
100	實	shí · ㄕˊ	real, solid	其實 (qíshí)

What the list does and does not tell you

The first dozen entries are mostly grammar words: 的, 了, 在, 是, 不, 有, 個, 們, 這, 和. They matter because they carry sentences together, and they are some of the hardest to pin down with a single English gloss. 的 alone has its own article on this site, how to use 的, 地 and 得. Learn them in sentences.

Frequency also says nothing about difficulty. 一 and 人 are among the easiest characters to write, while 麼 (14 strokes) and 學 (16 strokes) are not. The count tells you what you will meet most often, which is a good reason to learn a character early, but it does not tell you whether to learn it by sight or by hand.

The list also stops short of what a Taiwan learner needs next. Characters outside the top 100 that you will see daily in Taiwan, such as 臺 (tái), 灣 (wān) or 捷運 (jiéyùn, the MRT), sit lower in this count (台 is ranked 388 and 湾 855 in Jun Da’s list), and a Taiwan count would probably place them higher.

How to use the list

1. Use it as a checklist. If you can read all 100 without hesitation, you can recognise about two out of every five characters in a typical page of text, by that corpus. If you are missing some, learn them in the words in the Example column.
2. For the readings that vary. The characters with several readings (了, 得, 還, 行, 都, 會, 只, 沒, 地, 為) are where a flashcard of the single character misleads. Put the whole word on the card.
3. For handwriting. If you also want to write by hand, start with the low-stroke entries and add the others as words need them. A handwriting-first approach is covered in how to write Chinese characters.
4. For lookups. Any character here can be searched in the site dictionary, which shows Traditional forms with Pinyin and Zhuyin.

Beyond the top 100, the figures above give a sense of scale. In that count, characters ranked 101 to 500 add about 34 percentage points of coverage, and the next 500 add about 13 more. The next 1,000 add about 8 points, and the 1,000 after that about 2. That flattening curve is why a few thousand characters are enough for reading, and why the long tail is where most of the effort goes. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education 常用國字標準字體表 lists 4,808 common characters.

Related reading

• How many Chinese characters are there, and how many do you need
• Basic Chinese words: the first 100 to learn
• Chinese pictographs: characters that began as pictures
• Dictionary search