方 (fāng) is a Chinese character meaning “square”. It is written from ㇔ (dot stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇆ (horizontal-turning hook stroke) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke), and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “square; direction”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇔ + ㇐ + ㇆ + ㇒
Overlapping structure
- ㇔ dot stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇆ horizontal-turning hook stroke unknown
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+65B9 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (four strokes: 点 / 横 / 横折钩 / 撇)
Memory aid
A dot (㇔) sits on a wide horizontal beam (㇐). Under it, the hooked turn (㇆) draws one squared-off corner while the sweep (㇒) drops away on the other side — a shape that is almost, but not quite, a square.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 上方shàng fāngabove; the space overhead方 = fāng
- 乙方yǐ fāngParty B方 = fāng
- 东方dōng fāngthe east方 = fāng
- 双方shuāng fāngboth sides; both parties方 = fāngHSK 4
- 方向fāng xiàngdirection方 = fāng
- 方式fāng shìway; method; manner方 = fāng
- 方言fāng yándialect方 = fāng
- 远方yuǎn fāngdistant place; afar方 = fāng
- 南方nán fāngthe south; southern part of a country方 = fāng
- 方便fāng biànconvenient; to make things easy for someone方 = fāngHSK 2
- 方案fāng ànplan; scheme; proposal方 = fāng
Go deeper
All readings
square; direction
square; rectangular; direction; side; place; method
四角都是直角的形状；也指方向、方位、地方或方法。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 上方shàng fāngabove; the space overhead方 = fāng
- 乙方yǐ fāngParty B方 = fāng
- 东方dōng fāngthe east方 = fāng
- 双方shuāng fāngboth sides; both parties方 = fāngHSK 4
- 方向fāng xiàngdirection方 = fāng
- 方式fāng shìway; method; manner方 = fāng
- 方言fāng yándialect方 = fāng
- 远方yuǎn fāngdistant place; afar方 = fāng
- 南方nán fāngthe south; southern part of a country方 = fāng
- 方便fāng biànconvenient; to make things easy for someone方 = fāngHSK 2
- 方案fāng ànplan; scheme; proposal方 = fāng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 方 mean?
方 (fāng) means square; rectangular; direction; side; place; method.
How do you pronounce 方?
It is pronounced fāng.
What parts is 方 made of?
㇔ (dot stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇆ (horizontal-turning hook stroke) and ㇒ (left-falling stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+65B9 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (four strokes: 点 / 横 / 横折钩 / 撇). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 方 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 方?
方. 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 方?
Common ones are 上方 and 乙方. The reading of 方 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.