东 (dōng) is a Chinese character meaning “east”. It is written from ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and 小 (small), and takes 5 strokes.
Build the character for “east”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇐ + ㇜ + 小
Overlapping structure
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇜ left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe) unknown
- 小 small · xiǎo unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+4E1C; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry
Memory aid
A flat stroke (㇐) crossed by a stroke that falls then turns right (㇜), with 小 hanging underneath — the frame the sun climbs through in the east.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
5 strokes
In real words
- 东方dōng fāngthe east东 = dōng
- 东北dōng běinortheast东 = dōng
- 旭日东升xù rì dōng shēngthe morning sun rises in the east — a hopeful new beginning东 = dōng
- 东南dōng nánsoutheast东 = dōng
- 浦东pǔ dōngPudong (the part of Shanghai east of the Huangpu River)东 = dōng
- 股东gǔ dōngshareholder; stockholder东 = dōng
Go deeper
All readings
east
east; eastern; the direction of sunrise
太阳升起的一边；四个方向之一。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 东方dōng fāngthe east东 = dōng
- 东北dōng běinortheast东 = dōng
- 旭日东升xù rì dōng shēngthe morning sun rises in the east — a hopeful new beginning东 = dōng
- 东南dōng nánsoutheast东 = dōng
- 浦东pǔ dōngPudong (the part of Shanghai east of the Huangpu River)东 = dōng
- 股东gǔ dōngshareholder; stockholder东 = dōng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 东 mean?
东 (dōng) means east; eastern; the direction of sunrise.
How do you pronounce 东?
It is pronounced dōng.
What parts is 东 made of?
㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and 小 (small). The recorded source is: Unicode U+4E1C; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 东 have?
5. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 东?
一. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 东?
Common ones are 东方 and 东北. The reading of 东 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.