page_title: Stroke (CJK character)
section_title: Compound strokes
hierarchical_section_title: Stroke (CJK character) / Types / Compound strokes
caption_attribution_description: CJK_37_Strokes_(8+29).png en:Stroke order en:Stroke order
context_page_description: CJK strokes are the calligraphic strokes needed to write the Chinese characters in regular script used in East Asian calligraphy. CJK strokes are the classified set of line patterns that may be arranged and combined to form Chinese characters in use in China, Japan, and Korea.
context_section_description: A compound stroke (also called a complex stroke) is produced when two or more basic strokes are combined in a single stroke written without lifting the writing instrument from the writing surface. The character 永 (pinyin: yǒng) "eternity" described in more detail below demonstrates one of these compound strokes. The centre line is a compound stroke that combines three stroke shapes in a single stroke.
  Basics for making compound strokes
  In most cases, concatenating basic strokes together form a compound stroke. For example, Vertical / Shù combined with J hook / Gōu produce  (Vertical – J hook / Shù Gōu). A stroke naming convention sums the names of the basic strokes, in the writing order.
  An exception to this applies when a stroke makes a turn of 90° (and only of 90°) in the Simplified Chinese names. Horizontal  (Héng) and Vertical  (Shù) strokes are identified only once when they appear as the first stroke of a compound; any single stroke with successive 90° turns down or to the right are indicated by a Zag 折 (pinyin: Zhé) "Break". For example, an initial Shù followed by an abrupt turn right produces  (Shù Zhé). In the same way, an initial Shù followed by an abrupt turn right followed by a second turn down produces  (Shù Zhé Zhé). However, their inherited names are "Vertical – Horizontal" and "Vertical – Horizontal – Vertical".  We need not to use "Zag" in the inherited names.
  Nearly all complex strokes can be named using this simple scheme.
caption: Another classification showing 37 strokes: 8 basic strokes, and 29 complex strokes.[1]
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