<p>The word in the picture is a combination of two words, 脑 and 残, as shown in the image. Somebody made it up.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/1q1Yi.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1q1Yi.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>脑残 is a new phrase in the modern world, so I don't think you can find any method to input the word in the picture.</p>

<p>If you know the Cangjie input method (倉頡輸入法), the input keys of 脑 are 月b, 卜y, 山u and 大k. And, those of 残 are 一m, 弓n, 戈i and 手q.</p>

<p>According to the rules of the Cangjie IM, the input keys of the word in the picture are 一m, 月b, 戈i, 十j and 山u.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T10:02:49.157Z
2017-12-18T10:02:49.157Z
user-487
<p>Another way is to interpret the first two strokes and the last two strokes as numbers. so bai 百 is 1600 and du 度 is 3676. This system was first proposed in the shou wei hao ma 首尾號碼字典 dictionary by 陳舜齊 in Taiwan.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-16T16:15:48.123Z
2023-06-16T16:15:48.123Z
sunwukong
<p>In this case, the background is too noisy/complex for it be even worth giving OCR a try. Instead, use any Chinese IME (input method editor/soft keyboard) that supports handwriting recognition and hope that it is forgiving enough to allow for errors in stroke order.</p>

<p>If the background is clean and the font not too stylised, then a Chinese OCR would probably be the best option.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T04:33:49.157Z
2017-12-19T04:33:49.157Z
Mark
<p>I would use Google Keep. You take a picture on the street or cut an image from the screen. Paste into a new Keep note on your computer. Then you can &quot;Grab image text&quot;. Then you can translate it into English on Google Translation.</p>
<p>For example, below is my Keep note. I cut this image from one of the answers to this question, and I get the Chinese and English text.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/HIt22.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/HIt22.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>(*I not not sure how it works on Phones)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-16T23:22:42.270Z
2023-06-16T23:22:42.270Z
PdotWang
<p>With pictures <strong>OCR</strong> is your best bet.</p>
<p>Here’s a screenshot I took of the front page of baidu just now:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/M8JF0.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/M8JF0.png" alt="yoyoyo" /></a></p>
<p>Then I use Pleco’s OCR software to see what the titles Chinese characters are</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Fa4EO.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Fa4EO.png" alt="looklooklook" /></a></p>
<p>here you can see that the characters have been correctly identified.</p>
<p>It works for more than just words too.</p>
<p>Here’s a whole headline deciphered:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/CbqW4.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CbqW4.png" alt="yup" /></a></p>
<p>But in Pleco they can even look up the words one by one for you:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/BNWJO.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/BNWJO.png" alt="fancy right?" /></a></p>
<p>Fancy! Right?</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Method number two: <strong>Handwriting Recognition</strong></p>
<p>...and again we’re using Pleco (and really why would you need any other software? Really?)</p>
<p>So let’s stick with out original picture - we don’t know the characters for <em>baidu</em>.</p>
<p>So first we write our <em>bai</em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/tDTYr.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/tDTYr.png" alt="hahaha" /></a></p>
<p>Then we write our <em>du</em>:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/VVRaB.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/VVRaB.png" alt="yes" /></a></p>
<p>and now we have our two characters! And thankfully we’re using dictionary software so we have plenty of definitions:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RfXZb.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RfXZb.png" alt="un-hunh" /></a></p>
<hr />
<p>Method three: <strong>two part character search</strong></p>
<p>We're getting more advanced now.</p>
<p>So let's take the 娱 from 娱乐圈 in the OCR example above.</p>
<p>Now we know a little bit about Chinese characters - we don't know 娱 yet - but we know it's comprised of 女 and 吴.</p>
<p>So what can we do?</p>
<p>This is were <a href="http://zisea.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zisea</a> comes in handy. We can use their <a href="http://zisea.com/zslf.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">两分</a> (or &quot;two part&quot;) character system to find what we're looking for:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fKUfD.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fKUfD.png" alt="yuss" /></a></p>
<p>So in the &quot;two part&quot; search box we have:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>女吴</p>
</blockquote>
<p>then we see our results:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/IHWJP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/IHWJP.png" alt="how?" /></a></p>
<p>and there we see our 娱 right at the very top with a brief description!</p>
<p>if we click into it we get a page like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/bN3wZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/bN3wZ.png" alt="yo!" /></a></p>
<p>with the character, pinyin, descriptions, definitions and alternative characters.</p>
<hr />
<p>Method number four: <strong>笔顺</strong></p>
<p>This is, <em>really</em>, not my favorite - but I've used it enough times to make to worth mentioning.</p>
<p>If OCR, handwriting recognition and two-part searches are failing you - you can try <em>bishun</em>.</p>
<p>The rules for <em>bishun</em> are simple:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/gepZK.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/gepZK.png" alt="oooo" /></a></p>
<p>Solely based off how to write the character we can convert it to a number that can be searched.</p>
<p>So let's take: 乐 we don't know to read it but it's stroke order is obvious:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>ノフ丨ノ丶</p>
</blockquote>
<p>so according to the above table that gives us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>35234</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now if we go to <a href="http://zdic.net/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zdic.net</a></p>
<p>and click on the second tab:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>字典</p>
</blockquote>
<p>like this:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7j0KP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7j0KP.png" alt="like this" /></a></p>
<p>then click on:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>笔顺</p>
</blockquote>
<p>like so:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/qCf93.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/qCf93.png" alt="noa" /></a></p>
<p>now we can enter out number</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RnVYj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RnVYj.png" alt="![enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>and here are our results:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/1L20M.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1L20M.png" alt="uop" /></a></p>
<p>with:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>搜索结果：</p>
<p>乐 35234</p>
</blockquote>
<p>right at the top</p>
<hr />
<p>All of these methods would work with any character you don't know.</p>
<p>As long as you have a clear enough picture you can run OCR on any character.</p>
<p>While handwriting, two-part search and <em>bishun</em> methods can also work with any characters you find out there in the wild.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-17T23:13:21.023Z
Amazing! I wish I could do that!
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T04:43:33.980Z
Thanks! But I still cannot correctly recognize the character in the picture placed in this question. Is that really an existing character?
ice1000
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-18T04:44:49.457Z
na, that's why @BirchBryant said, "Well, the first step is for the character in the picture to actually be 汉字。"
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T04:02:47.793Z
"really why would you need any other software?" well, many people say that Hanping Camera (disclaimer: I'm the developer) is *by far* the best Chinese OCR app on Android: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/55434-pleco-ocr-attn-mike-love/?tab=comments#comment-427237 and regarding taking screenshots - no need when you have Hanping Popup! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox0p0YgeJkI
Mark
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-22T13:28:56.700Z
@user3306356 When you see text "on a picture" OCR is most of the time useless because of the inconsistent background. IMO the answer would be much better (more compact) if you removed the OCR section.
Mark
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-16T18:22:39.670Z
I just want to add, most modern cameras have the ability to copy and paste text from any screen shot in the native photos apps, whether chinese or english etc. then it can just be pasted into pleco or any online dictionary to search.  I just wanted to add this on as the simplest version of what you've posted in a detailed answer.
zagrycha
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-17T16:17:48.113Z
2017-12-17T16:52:25.973Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Mou某
<p>Like, when I see a Chinese character in this picture (link is broken and redirected):</p>
<p><img src="https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/16398479?s=100" alt="" /></p>
<p>What is the best way to find more information about this character (unlike English, there're only 26 letters, and I can type them and google. Chinese characters cannot be typed if I don't know its pinyin)?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-19T04:19:28.937Z
In the worst case, you can always use handwriting IME with any dictionary. These input methods are not extremely sensitive to stroke order.
Vitaly Osipov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-23T12:38:22.330Z
this is not an actual Chinese character, instead coined glyph by concatating 脑 and 残。 脑残=foolish.
Daniel Yang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T16:29:32.893Z
I want it to be translated in English![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/LLwRz.jpg)
Wisdom lanamai
<characters><character-identification>
How can I search for a Chinese character when I see it on a picture?
# How can I search for a Chinese character when I see it on a picture?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-12-17)

Like, when I see a Chinese character in this picture (link is broken and redirected):

![](https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/16398479?s=100)

What is the best way to find more information about this character (unlike English, there're only 26 letters, and I can type them and google. Chinese characters cannot be typed if I don't know its pinyin)?

**Tags:** characters, character-identification

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: In the worst case, you can always use handwriting IME with any dictionary. These input methods are not extremely sensitive to stroke order.  
> **username_2**: this is not an actual Chinese character, instead coined glyph by concatating 脑 and 残。 脑残=foolish.  
> **username_3**: I want it to be translated in English![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/LLwRz.jpg)  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_8 on 2017-12-17. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

With pictures **OCR** is your best bet.

Here’s a screenshot I took of the front page of baidu just now:

[![yoyoyo](https://i.sstatic.net/M8JF0.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/M8JF0.png)

Then I use Pleco’s OCR software to see what the titles Chinese characters are

[![looklooklook](https://i.sstatic.net/Fa4EO.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Fa4EO.png)

here you can see that the characters have been correctly identified.

It works for more than just words too.

Here’s a whole headline deciphered:

[![yup](https://i.sstatic.net/CbqW4.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/CbqW4.png)

But in Pleco they can even look up the words one by one for you:

[![fancy right?](https://i.sstatic.net/BNWJO.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/BNWJO.png)

Fancy! Right?

——

Method number two: **Handwriting Recognition**

...and again we’re using Pleco (and really why would you need any other software? Really?)

So let’s stick with out original picture - we don’t know the characters for *baidu*.

So first we write our *bai*.

[![hahaha](https://i.sstatic.net/tDTYr.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/tDTYr.png)

Then we write our *du*:

[![yes](https://i.sstatic.net/VVRaB.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/VVRaB.png)

and now we have our two characters! And thankfully we’re using dictionary software so we have plenty of definitions:

[![un-hunh](https://i.sstatic.net/RfXZb.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/RfXZb.png)

---

Method three: **two part character search**

We're getting more advanced now.

So let's take the 娱 from 娱乐圈 in the OCR example above.

Now we know a little bit about Chinese characters - we don't know 娱 yet - but we know it's comprised of 女 and 吴.

So what can we do?

This is were [zisea](http://zisea.com/) comes in handy. We can use their [两分](http://zisea.com/zslf.htm) (or "two part") character system to find what we're looking for:

[![yuss](https://i.sstatic.net/fKUfD.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/fKUfD.png)

So in the "two part" search box we have:

> 女吴

then we see our results:

[![how?](https://i.sstatic.net/IHWJP.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/IHWJP.png)

and there we see our 娱 right at the very top with a brief description!

if we click into it we get a page like this:

[![yo!](https://i.sstatic.net/bN3wZ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/bN3wZ.png)

with the character, pinyin, descriptions, definitions and alternative characters.

---

Method number four: **笔顺**

This is, *really*, not my favorite - but I've used it enough times to make to worth mentioning.

If OCR, handwriting recognition and two-part searches are failing you - you can try *bishun*.

The rules for *bishun* are simple:

[![oooo](https://i.sstatic.net/gepZK.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/gepZK.png)

Solely based off how to write the character we can convert it to a number that can be searched.

So let's take: 乐 we don't know to read it but it's stroke order is obvious:

> ノフ丨ノ丶

so according to the above table that gives us:

> 35234

Now if we go to [zdic.net](http://zdic.net/)

and click on the second tab:

> 字典

like this:

[![like this](https://i.sstatic.net/7j0KP.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/7j0KP.png)

then click on:

> 笔顺

like so:

[![noa](https://i.sstatic.net/qCf93.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/qCf93.png)

now we can enter out number

[![![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/RnVYj.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/RnVYj.png)

and here are our results:

[![uop](https://i.sstatic.net/1L20M.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/1L20M.png)

with:

> 搜索结果：
>
> 乐 35234

right at the top

---

All of these methods would work with any character you don't know.

As long as you have a clear enough picture you can run OCR on any character.

While handwriting, two-part search and *bishun* methods can also work with any characters you find out there in the wild.

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: Amazing! I wish I could do that!  
> **username_0**: Thanks! But I still cannot correctly recognize the character in the picture placed in this question. Is that really an existing character?  
> **username_8**: na, that's why @BirchBryant said, "Well, the first step is for the character in the picture to actually be 汉字。"  
> **username_6**: "really why would you need any other software?" well, many people say that Hanping Camera (disclaimer: I'm the developer) is *by far* the best Chinese OCR app on Android: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/55434-pleco-ocr-attn-mike-love/?tab=comments#comment-427237 and regarding taking screenshots - no need when you have Hanping Popup! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox0p0YgeJkI  
> **username_6**: @user3306356 When you see text "on a picture" OCR is most of the time useless because of the inconsistent background. IMO the answer would be much better (more compact) if you removed the OCR section.  
> **username_10**: I just want to add, most modern cameras have the ability to copy and paste text from any screen shot in the native photos apps, whether chinese or english etc. then it can just be pasted into pleco or any online dictionary to search.  I just wanted to add this on as the simplest version of what you've posted in a detailed answer.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-12-18. Score: 3

The word in the picture is a combination of two words, 脑 and 残, as shown in the image. Somebody made it up.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/1q1Yi.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/1q1Yi.png)

脑残 is a new phrase in the modern world, so I don't think you can find any method to input the word in the picture.

If you know the Cangjie input method (倉頡輸入法), the input keys of 脑 are 月b, 卜y, 山u and 大k. And, those of 残 are 一m, 弓n, 戈i and 手q.

According to the rules of the Cangjie IM, the input keys of the word in the picture are 一m, 月b, 戈i, 十j and 山u.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2023-06-16. Score: 2

Another way is to interpret the first two strokes and the last two strokes as numbers. so bai 百 is 1600 and du 度 is 3676. This system was first proposed in the shou wei hao ma 首尾號碼字典 dictionary by 陳舜齊 in Taiwan.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2017-12-19. Score: 2

In this case, the background is too noisy/complex for it be even worth giving OCR a try. Instead, use any Chinese IME (input method editor/soft keyboard) that supports handwriting recognition and hope that it is forgiving enough to allow for errors in stroke order.

If the background is clean and the font not too stylised, then a Chinese OCR would probably be the best option.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2023-06-16. Score: 1

I would use Google Keep. You take a picture on the street or cut an image from the screen. Paste into a new Keep note on your computer. Then you can "Grab image text". Then you can translate it into English on Google Translation.

For example, below is my Keep note. I cut this image from one of the answers to this question, and I get the Chinese and English text.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/HIt22.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/HIt22.png)

(\*I not not sure how it works on Phones)


---

