 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Stroke count method" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheStroke Count Method (Chinese:笔画;pinyin:bǐ huà),Wubihua method,Stroke input method orBihua IME (Chinese:五笔画输入法;pinyin:wǔ bǐhuà shūrù fǎ orChinese:筆劃輸入法;pinyin:Bǐhuà shūrù fǎ) (lit.5-stroke input method) is a relatively simpleChinese input method for writing text on a computer or a mobile phone. It is based on thestroke order of a word, not pronunciation.[1] It uses five or six buttons, and is often placed on a numerical keypad. Although it is possible to inputTraditional Chinese characters with this method, this method is often associated withSimplified Chinese characters. The Wubihua method should not be confused with theWubi method.
Each of the five keys from 1 to 5 are assigned a certain type of stroke (resembling theEight Principles of Yong; these five are sometimes called橫竖撇捺折 (橫豎撇捺折;héng-shù-piē-nà-zhé) with each character of this phrase being a one-syllable description of the respective five strokes:[a]
To input any character, the user simply presses the keys corresponding to the strokes of a character then select from a list of matching characters. The list of suggestions to choose from becomes more and more specific as more digits of the code are entered.[1] The system will not recognize a character input with an incorrect stroke order.[1] Some people find this method of entering characters into a mobile phone to be faster thanpinyin. In fact, as pinyin is based uponMandarin Chinese, many Chinese people – particularly in the southern regions of China like Hong Kong andMacau – who speak other varieties of Chinese and never learned pinyin relied solely on this method of entering characters on their phones, until touchscreen-basedsmartphones allowed the possibility ofhandwriting recognition.
Wubihua is one of the easiest to learn methods because it is simple and does not require knowledge of pronunciation or pinyin. However, it tends to be vague, as a Wubihua code will normally match ten characters, and each character has one correct code, which confuses users whose stroke orders are wrong.
Strokes map to Wubihua input generally according to the following table:
| Wubihua Character | Stroke Type | Stroke | Name of stroke (simplified Chinese andpinyin) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horizontal, or Rising |   | 横;Héng |
 | 提;Tí | ||
| 2 | Vertical |   | 竖;Shù |
 | 竖钩;Shù Gōu | ||
| 3 | Falling to the Left |   | 撇;Piě |
| 4 | Dot, or Falling to the Right |   | 点;Diǎn |
  | 捺;Nà | ||
  | 提捺;Tí Nà | ||
| 5 | Turning |  | 横折;Héng Zhé |
 | 横撇;Héng Piě | ||
 | 横钩;Héng Gōu | ||
  | 竖折;Shù Zhé | ||
 | 竖弯;Shù Wān | ||
 | 竖提;Shù Tí | ||
  | 撇折;Piě Zhé | ||
 | 撇点;Piě Diǎn | ||
 | 撇钩;Piě Gōu | ||
 | 弯钩;Wān Gōu | ||
 | 斜钩;Xié Gōu | ||
 | 横折折;Héng Zhé Zhé | ||
 | 横折弯;Héng Zhé Wān | ||
 | 横折提;Héng Zhé Tí | ||
  | 横折钩;Héng Zhé Gōu | ||
 | 横斜钩;Héng Xié Gōu | ||
 | 竖折折;Shù Zhé Zhé | ||
  | 竖折撇;Shù Zhé Piě | ||
 | 竖弯钩;Shù Wān Gōu | ||
 | 横折折折;Héng Zhé Zhé Zhé | ||
 | 横折折撇;Héng Zhé Zhé Piě | ||
 | 横折弯钩;Héng Zhé Wān Gōu | ||
 | 横撇弯钩;Héng Piě Wān Gōu | ||
  | 竖折折钩;Shù Zhé Zhé Gōu | ||
 | 横折折折钩;Héng Zhé Zhé Zhé Gōu |
 | This mobile computing related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
 | Thiswriting system–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |