Traditional Chinese Characters List 🀄 The 100 Most Common (WITH FREE QUIZ)

Q: Are all simplified and traditional character different?

Only around a quarter of the characters on this list differ from the simplified version.

Learn Chinese • By LTL Team HQ • December 2, 2020

Traditional Chinese Characters List | The 100 Most Common Characters

There are literally thousands of characters so today we’re going to start off with a list of the 100 most common Traditional Chinese characters.

Make sure to have a read of our Traditional Chinese vs Simplified Chinese blog if you’re not sure what the difference is.

But you might be wondering, how many characters actually are there?

Well the answer to that isn’t actually as straight forward as you might think it is. According to the Taiwan Ministry of Education’s 2004 Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (異體字字典, Yìtǐzì zìdiǎn) the figure is 106,230!!

However, most modern-day dictionaries commonly have around 20,000 characters.

For example, the Modern Chinese Language Dictionary (現代漢語詞典 xiàndài hànyǔ cídiǎn) has 12,500 characters.

Are you really expected to learn that many characters!?

The answer is no.

In fact, it’s estimated that you only need to know around 3,000 characters to be able to read most things. After you’ve studied this blog test your knowledge of the top 100 most common traditional Chinese Characters.

⬇️⬇️⬇️ Top 100 Traditional Chinese Characters Quiz ⬇️⬇️⬇️

In 2013 the Chinese government published a list of 3,500 essential characters which is the minimum that Chinese school children are expected to learn.

If this is starting to feel a little overwhelming then relax!

Characters are actually made up of a varying amount of Chinese radicals, so once you’ve become familiar with these it’ll begin to get easier to recognise characters.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEuSJx3F5v-/

For daily life such as ordering food, going shopping and asking for directions, you can actually get by knowing around 500-750 characters. So, take it one step at a time.

So, speaking of small steps a good place to begin is learning our list of the 100 most common Traditional Chinese characters.

Chinese Characters List || 1-10
Chinese Characters List || 11-20
Chinese Characters List || 21-30
Chinese Characters List || 31-40
Chinese Characters List || 41-50
Chinese Characters List || 51-60
Chinese Characters List || 61-70
Chinese Characters List || 71-80
Chinese Characters List || 81-90
Chinese Characters List || 91-100
BONUS || Common Chinese Characters Posters

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Want to discover Simplified Chinese as well? Check out the top 50 here

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 1-10

Now, if you’re also familiar with simplified Chinese you might actually notice that the top 10 most common traditional Chinese characters are written exactly the same as their simplified counterpart.

In fact, only around a quarter of the characters on this list differ from the simplified version.

It’s probable that when simplified Chinese was first developed they decided to keep many of the most common characters the same to make things easier.

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
的	的	de	grammatical particle marking possession
一	一	yī	one
是	是	shì	to be
不	不	bù	not, negative
了	了	le	verb particle marking past tense, completed action, change in condition.
人	人	rén	person
我	我	wǒ	I
在	在	zài	at, located at
有	有	yǒu	have, there is
他	他	tā	he

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 11-20

With our next 10 characters, we get our first variations from the simplified version.

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
這	这	zhè	this
中	中	zhōng	middle
大	大	dà	big
來	来	lái	come
上	上	shàng	above, on, over/last, previous
國	国	guó	country
個	个	gè	general quantifier
到	到	dào	to, towards, until, arrive
說	说	shuō	speak, say
們	们	men	pluralize nouns referring to people

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 21-30

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
為	为	wèi	in order to, for the purpose of…
子	子	zǐ	child
和	和	hé	together, with
你	你	nǐ	you
地	地	dì	earth, ground, place
出	出	chū	go out, come out
道	道	dào	way, path, way
也	也	yě	also, as well
時	时	shí	time period, season
年	年	nián	year

Learn more about time in Chinese.

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 31-40

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
得	得	de	to have to / adverbial particle
就	就	jiù	just, simply, right away
那	那	nà	that
要	要	yào	want, will do, need, important
下	下	xià	below, under, down / next
以	以	yǐ	because of, in order to / according to
生	生	shēng	give birth, life
會	会	huì	can, able, meet, party, society
自	自	zì	from, self
著	着	zhe	verb particle marking a progressive aspect (e.g. -ing)

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 41-50

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
去	去	qù	go, leave, depart
之	之	zhī	subordinator, go, leave for
過	过	guò	pass, cross, exceed
家	家	jiā	home, family
學	学	xué	study, learn
對	对	duì	correct, mutual, pair
可	可	kě	~able, may, can
她	她	tā	she
裡	里	lǐ	neighborhood, half kilometer
后	后	hòu	queen

Rooms at Home 🏠 A Complete Guide to Your House in Chinese

Put labels on things you see constantly in the house and learn the vocabulary for house in Chinese and every other daily object in this way.

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 51-60

Great, you’ve made it halfway already!!

Just another 50 to go and you’ll be one step closer to your Chinese learning goals!

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
小	小	xiǎo	small
麼	么	me/mo	interrogative suffix
心	心	xīn	heart
多	多	duō	many, much, more
天	天	tiān	sky, heaven, god, day
而	而	ér	and, furthermore
能	能	néng	can, be able
好	好	hǎo	good
都	都	dōu	all
然	然	rán	correct, so, like that

Want to learn more body parts in Chinese?

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 61-70

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
沒	沒	méi	haven’t, there isn’t, no
日	日	rì	sun
于	于	yú	in, at, for, to, from, by, than
起	起	qǐ	rise, start
還	还	hái	still, yet
發	发	fā	deliver, develop, expand
成	成	chéng	accomplish, succeed / to become
事	事	shì	matter, thing, event, accident
只	只	zhǐ	only, just
作	作	zuò	do, make

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 71-80

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
當	当	dāng	serve as, act as
想	想	xiǎng	think, feel, want
看	看	kàn	see, look at
文	文	wén	language, literature
無	无	wú	without, have not
開	开	kāi	open
手	手	shǒu	hand
十	十	shí	ten
用	用	yòng	use
主	主	zhǔ	lord, master, live

You might have noticed we’ve already had a couple of numbers included in this list of most common Traditional Chinese characters.

Learning how to recognise and write numbers in Chinese is also a really good thing to learn and get your head around early on.

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Traditional Chinese Characters List: 81-90

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
行	行	xíng	go, OK
方	方	fāng	side
又	又	yòu	again, both… and…
如	如	rú	like, as, as if
前	前	qián	in front, previous, first, former
所	所	suǒ	place
本	本	běn	basis, origin, edition
見	见	jiàn	appear to be, meet with
經	经	jīng	longitude
頭	头	tóu	head, top, first

Traditional Chinese Characters List: 91-100

Traditional Character	Simplified Character	Pinyin	English Translation
面	面	miàn	face, surface
公	公	gōng	public, official
同	同	tóng	same
三	三	sān	three
已	已	yǐ	stop, end
老	老	lǎo	old
從	从	cóng	from, through
動	动	dòng	move
兩	两	liǎng	two
長	长	cháng	long, length

And there you have it, the 100 most common Traditional Chinese Characters full list!

Once you’ve learnt these you’ll start to recognise them everywhere, so it’s worthwhile to learn them to build a solid foundation.

Traditional Chinese Characters Quiz

Things You Have To Know About Taiwanese Mandarin

What is the difference between Taiwanese Mandarin and Standard Mandarin? What language do they speak in Taiwan? Your questions are all answered here.

Chinese Characters Posters

A special one here because we are giving you two posters for one. You can even get them free by simply sharing on your Facebook!

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Traditional Chinese Characters List – FAQs

What is the most common Traditional Chinese character?

The most common traditional Chinese character is 的 (de) which is a grammatical particle.

What are the 10 most common Traditional Chinese characters?

The 10 most common traditional Chinese characters are 的，一，是，不，了，人，我，在，有，他。

How long does it take to learn the 100 most common Traditional Chinese characters?

If you take Chinese classes you’ll definitely make quick progress in learning the 100 most common Traditional Chinese characters.

Are all simplified and traditional character different?

Only around a quarter of the characters on this list differ from the simplified version.

Where is best to learn Traditional Chinese?

Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan and Hong Kong but as Cantonese is used mainly in Hong Kong, Taiwan is without doubt the best place to learn Traditional Chinese.

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