Most Frequently Used Han Characters

Based on the latest research finalized in Aug 2013:

  • Level One,   3,500 Most Frequently Used Han Characters. Covers almost 99.5% of commonly used Han. It is basic requirement for Chinese to understand each others.
  • Level Two, 3,000 Less Frequently Used Han Characters. Covers another 0.4% of commonly used Han. Some of Characters here are not covered by current digital system. Most Chinese will check dictionary for most of the characters in this level in order to know exact meaning.
  • Level III, 1,605 Seldom Used Han Characters. Covers Han used by people name, place name, science term and chinese classic articles. Many Characters here are even not covered by current digital system. Most Chinese can only recognize a few character in this level.
  • Others, Thouthands Rarely Han Characters. Covers all characters invented/created in history and used in very special purpose and circumstance. These characters can’t be find in common used dictionary.

You may download the complete list of Most Frequently Used Han Characters from the link (通用规范汉字表-2013)

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