<p>My favorite online dictionary, <strong><a href="http://www.nciku.com/" rel="nofollow">Nciku</a></strong> lets you draw in a character, and then tells you what it is. Super useful if you can't find out what the radical is, or just want a quicker way to look something out.</p>

<p>My favorite iOS app, <strong><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/pleco-chinese-dictionary/id341922306?mt=8" rel="nofollow">Pleco</a></strong> has this functionality, along with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) so you can hold up/take pictures of one or more Characters, and it will then give you the definitions of them. It's pretty cool. </p>

<p>Are these the sort of things you mean?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T04:22:45.463Z
Yes, but also, perhaps some kinds that are used in books.
Village
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T04:16:09.243Z
2011-12-24T04:16:09.243Z
Ciaocibai
<p>You can just search it by www.baidu.com which can input character by drawing or search it by any search engine with Chinese input method supporting drawing.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-25T16:25:57.290Z
2011-12-25T16:25:57.290Z
xiecheng127
<p>You can also use Wiktionary to look up a word if you know the pronunciation and the meaning but you don't know the character.</p>
<p>Example: <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ye4#Mandarin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ye4</a></p>
<p>I also quite frequently use <a href="http://www.google.com.hk/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google HK</a> to perform a search, which is useful for when you have a sentence, and type in something like shanshuihua, it will provide you a list of options in Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-07T17:36:00.847Z
the OP asked for resources in situations where *only the character* can be used to look something up.
magnetar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2011-12-26T10:00:40.077Z
2021-04-10T22:50:14.937Z
2021-04-10T22:50:14.937Z
going
<p>This question could probably best be answered <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_input_method" rel="nofollow noreferrer">by Wikipedia</a> as there are many, many methods.</p>

<p>One relatively common one is to look up the character <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_count_method" rel="nofollow noreferrer">by stroke count, then by stroke order</a>. In this system, there are five types of strokes and each is assigned a number.</p>

<pre><code>+--------+------------------------------+
| Number | Stroke type                  |
+--------+------------------------------+
|      1 | Horizontal, or rising        |
|      2 | Vertical                     |
|      3 | Falling to the Left          |
|      4 | Dot, or Falling to the Right |
|      5 | Turning                      |
+--------+------------------------------+
</code></pre>

<p>This is the method used to look up characters in 现代汉语通用字笔顺规范, the official character stroke order reference in mainland China. For example, below is the character 永 in this book:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/E7my5.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>If you want to look up this character, you will first go to the page with the 5-strokes characters, then you would search for the dot stroke (4), then the hook (5), etc. Basically, its code would be 45534.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-24T04:28:32.673Z
2018-01-09T14:54:46.130Z
2018-01-09T14:54:46.130Z
laurent
<p>Some dictionaries provide a radical lookup for finding characters. Are there other systems available <em>besides</em> radical lookup for finding the meaning of a word when one only has the character?</p>

<dictionary><character-identification><radicals>
What methods are available for looking up a character?
# What methods are available for looking up a character?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-24)

Some dictionaries provide a radical lookup for finding characters. Are there other systems available *besides* radical lookup for finding the meaning of a word when one only has the character?

**Tags:** dictionary, character-identification, radicals


---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2011-12-24. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

This question could probably best be answered [by Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_input_method) as there are many, many methods.

One relatively common one is to look up the character [by stroke count, then by stroke order](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_count_method). In this system, there are five types of strokes and each is assigned a number.

```
+--------+------------------------------+
| Number | Stroke type                  |
+--------+------------------------------+
|      1 | Horizontal, or rising        |
|      2 | Vertical                     |
|      3 | Falling to the Left          |
|      4 | Dot, or Falling to the Right |
|      5 | Turning                      |
+--------+------------------------------+

```

This is the method used to look up characters in 现代汉语通用字笔顺规范, the official character stroke order reference in mainland China. For example, below is the character 永 in this book:

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/E7my5.png)

If you want to look up this character, you will first go to the page with the 5-strokes characters, then you would search for the dot stroke (4), then the hook (5), etc. Basically, its code would be 45534.


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-12-24. Score: 3

My favorite online dictionary, **[Nciku](http://www.nciku.com/)** lets you draw in a character, and then tells you what it is. Super useful if you can't find out what the radical is, or just want a quicker way to look something out.

My favorite iOS app, **[Pleco](http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/pleco-chinese-dictionary/id341922306?mt=8)** has this functionality, along with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) so you can hold up/take pictures of one or more Characters, and it will then give you the definitions of them. It's pretty cool.

Are these the sort of things you mean?

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Yes, but also, perhaps some kinds that are used in books.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-12-25. Score: 2

You can just search it by www.baidu.com which can input character by drawing or search it by any search engine with Chinese input method supporting drawing.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-12-26. Score: -1

You can also use Wiktionary to look up a word if you know the pronunciation and the meaning but you don't know the character.

Example: [ye4](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ye4#Mandarin)

I also quite frequently use [Google HK](http://www.google.com.hk/) to perform a search, which is useful for when you have a sentence, and type in something like shanshuihua, it will provide you a list of options in Chinese.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: the OP asked for resources in situations where *only the character* can be used to look something up.  

---

