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The 100 most used Chinese characters (with pinyin and meaning)

The top 100, with pinyin and meaning

The table follows the order of Jun Da’s Modern Chinese Character Frequency List. When a character has several readings, the most common comes first and the other appears in brackets; the meaning shown goes with the main reading.

1 to 50

51 to 100

Double readings worth knowing: 了 is le as a particle (吃了, “I already ate”) and liǎo in words like 了解 liǎojiě (“to understand”). 的 is de almost always, but dì in 目的 mùdì (“goal”). 地 is dì in 地方 dìfang (“place”) and de after an adjective, as in 慢慢地 mànmàn de (“slowly”). 行 is xíng (“OK”) and háng in 银行 yínháng (“bank”).

How much of a text they cover

According to the same list, this is how much the first characters account for out of all the characters in the corpus:

So just five characters are already almost 10%. But this is character coverage, not comprehension: the missing ones are often the ones that carry the meaning (names, topics, technical words). To see how the curve continues up to 3,000 characters, read how many characters you need to know.

Why you should not memorize them in isolation

Look at the list: 的, 了, 是, 在, 不, 也, 就, 和, 都... Many are grammar words. They are so frequent precisely because they do not name anything concrete: they mark possession, time, negation or the link between ideas. Memorizing them with a loose translation (“的 = of”) does not help, because their use depends on the sentence.

Another reason: a character is not always a word. 国 is “country”, but “China” is 中国 (two characters) and “Chinese person” is 中国人. A character without context does not tell you how it sounds inside the word or which tone it takes there (for that, see tones).

How to study them better: in words and sentences

With just these characters you can already read whole sentences. Look:

1. Learn each character inside a word or short sentence, not only on its own: that way you remember the sound and the use.
2. Write the strokes in order. Frequent characters are easy to practice: stroke order saves you from bad habits.
3. Go back to what you miss. What you do not remember is what needs another pass: see how to memorize characters.

Where to go next

After these 100, the natural step is the words of HSK 1 and, later, the 1,000 most frequent characters, which already cover 89.1% of the characters in a modern text (more details here).

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Frequently asked questions

What are the most used Chinese characters?

According to Jun Da’s frequency list, the first ten are 的, 一, 是, 不, 了, 在, 人, 有, 我 and 他. Those ten alone add up to 13.9% of the characters in a text.

How much of a text do the 100 most frequent characters cover?

They cover 41.8% of the characters in a modern Chinese text. Note that this does not mean understanding 41.8% of the text, because the missing characters are often the ones that carry the meaning.

How many basic Chinese characters do I need to know?

With 500 characters you cover about 75.8% of a text, with 1,000 about 89.1% and with 2,000 about 97.1%, according to the same list. HSK 1 asks for fewer; the details are in the guide on how many characters you need to know.

Why is 的 read de and sometimes dì?

Because some characters have more than one reading. 的 is de almost always (the possessive particle), but in 目的 (mùdì, “goal”) it is read dì. The same happens with 了 (le or liǎo) and 地 (dì or de).

Should I memorize the list of 100 characters?

Not as a loose list. Many are grammar words that only make sense inside a sentence. It is better to learn each character inside words and short sentences, write it with the strokes in order and review what you get wrong.

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