Chinese Word Counter
Paste Chinese text to count its characters (字数) and words (词数) as you type. Simplified, Traditional and mixed Chinese and English all work. You see every common counting method side by side, how the text was split into words, the most frequent words and the reading time. Nothing leaves your browser.
| Method | Count | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese characters (字数) | 0 | Each Chinese character once. What schools, HSK tasks and translators usually mean. |
| Characters incl. punctuation | 0 | Everything except spaces and line breaks: characters, punctuation, letters, digits. |
| Segmented words (词数) | 0 | Split into words with your browser's Chinese dictionary, so 北京 is one word. |
| Per-character word count | 0 | Each Chinese character counts as a word, plus each English word or number. |
| Estimate at 1.5 characters a word | 0 | Chinese characters ÷ 1.5, a translation-industry rule of thumb. |
| English words and numbers | 0 | Words in other scripts and numbers such as 2024, counted separately. |
See how the text was split into words
Each shaded block is one word. Segmentation comes from your browser, so another browser may split a few words differently. Character counts never change.
Word frequency
Runs in your browser. Nothing uploaded.
How to use the Chinese word counter
- Paste your text. Simplified, Traditional and Chinese mixed with English all work.
- Read the counts. Chinese characters (字数) and words (词数) update as you type, with sentences, paragraphs and reading time.
- Pick the method you need. The method table shows every common way of counting. Use the one your teacher, client or platform asks for.
- Check the split. Open See how the text was split into words to see each word, or copy the text with spaces between words.
字数 or 词数: which count do you need?
Chinese is written without spaces between words, so there are two different numbers, and people usually mean the first one.
- 字数 (character count) counts Chinese characters. School essays, HSK writing tasks and translation quotes are almost always measured this way. It’s exact: every character is counted once.
- 词数 (word count) counts words, where 北京 (Beijing) or 电脑 (computer) is one word. Finding the words needs a dictionary, and the answer depends on which dictionary. This page uses the one built into your browser, so nothing is downloaded or sent anywhere.
The average Chinese word is about 1.5 characters long, so a text usually has noticeably fewer words than characters.
Why Chinese word counters disagree
We pasted the same short text into the free counters that rank for “chinese word counter” and got word counts of 18, 20 and 22, while others showed only the 26 characters. None of them said how it counted. Here is that text, and what each method gives:
我爱北京天安门。Hello world! 這是繁體字，包含English words和数字2024。第二段：你好吗？我很好！😀
| Method | Count | How it’s worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese characters (字数) | 26 | 7 + 5 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 characters, in both scripts |
| Characters incl. punctuation, no spaces | 60 | 26 Chinese + 22 letters + 4 digits + 7 punctuation marks + 1 emoji |
| Segmented words (词数) | 20 | 我 / 爱 / 北京 / 天安门 / Hello / world / 這是 / 繁體字 / 包含 / English / words / 和 / 数字 / 2024 / 第二 / 段 / 你好 / 吗 / 我 / 很好 |
| Per-character word count | 31 | 26 Chinese characters + Hello, world, English, words and 2024 |
| Estimate at 1.5 characters a word | 17 | 26 ÷ 1.5 = 17.3 |
| Characters × 0.7, used by one counter | 18 | 26 × 0.7 = 18.2 |
Every one of those is a fair answer to a different question. Select Load an example above to see the same text in the tool. It also has 5 sentences and 2 paragraphs; the emoji on its own isn’t a sentence.
How the counts work
- Chinese characters are every character in Unicode’s Han script. That includes the rare extension blocks that some counters miss, so 𠀀 counts as one character. 〇 and 々 count too.
- Characters are counted one per character, so an emoji is 1, not 2. “No spaces” leaves out spaces, the full-width space and line breaks.
- Words come from
Intl.Segmenter, the word splitter built into Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox. Numbers like 2024 and 5.2 are one word each. English words are counted as words. - Sentences end at 。！？, the English . ! ?, or a line break.
- Paragraphs are non-blank lines, because Chinese writing starts a new paragraph on each line.
Reading time
| Chinese | Other words | 1,000 characters takes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading silently | 390 characters/min | 238 words/min | about 2 min 34 sec |
| Reading aloud | 255 characters/min | 228 words/min | about 3 min 55 sec |
The silent figure comes from Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 review of reading-rate studies. Across 18 silent-reading studies of Chinese he found 260 words a minute, having converted characters to words at 1.5 characters a word, so 260 × 1.5 = 390 characters. He notes this may slightly overstate the speed for texts with longer words. The read-aloud figures were measured directly on adults aged 18 to 35 in the IReST reading-speed study (2012). Chinese readers averaged 255 characters a minute, and English readers 228 words a minute.
How many English words is that?
At 1.5 characters a word, 1,000 Chinese characters is about 667 Chinese words. That’s a count of Chinese words, not a translation estimate. How long an English translation comes out depends on the content, so ask your translator. Most quote Chinese work per character anyway, which is the 字数 figure above.
What to know before you rely on it
- Word counts can vary a little between browsers, because each browser ships its own dictionary. The character counts never vary.
- Simplified and Traditional can split differently. 繁體字 comes out as one word and 繁体字 as two (繁体 + 字).
- It’s built for Chinese. Japanese kana and Korean hangul are counted as letters, and the tool tells you when it sees them.
- Older browsers without
Intl.Segmenterstill get exact character counts, with the word figures shown as “—”.
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. Chinese silent reading 260 words/min at 1.5 characters per word; English silent reading 238 words/min.
- Trauzettel-Klosinski, S., & Dietz, K. (2012). Standardized assessment of reading performance: the new International Reading Speed Texts IReST. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 53, 5452–5461. Chinese 255 characters/min and English 228 words/min, read aloud.
- David Smith Translation: How to count Chinese characters. Microsoft Word’s “Asian characters” count.
Checked 18 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the word count in Chinese?
Chinese is usually measured in characters, not words, because there are no spaces between words. A "word count" for a Chinese essay, an HSK writing task or a translation job almost always means the number of Chinese characters (字数). A true word count (词数) needs the text split into words with a dictionary, so 北京 counts as one word. This tool shows both.
How do I count Chinese words in Microsoft Word?
Open Review, then Word Count. In versions set up for East Asian languages, Word lists "Asian characters" on its own line. That is the Chinese character count, and it leaves out numbers and English words. Some Mac versions set to English no longer show that line. We could not find Microsoft documentation of exactly how Word builds its "Words" total for mixed text, so compare its Asian characters line with the Chinese characters count here.
Does a Chinese character count include punctuation?
It depends on who is asking. Chinese characters (字数) on this page counts only Chinese characters. "Characters incl. punctuation" adds punctuation, letters and digits but not spaces. Translators often quote on Chinese characters alone, while character limits on forms usually count everything. Check which one your teacher, client or platform means, then read that row.
Why do Chinese word counters give different numbers?
Because they count different things and rarely say so. For the same short text with 26 Chinese characters, 4 English words and one number, free counters report 18, 20 or 22 words, and others show only the 26 characters. Some multiply characters by 0.7 or 0.75, and some split the text with a dictionary (20 here). Counting each character plus each English word gives 31. The method table on this page shows all of them.
How long does it take to read 1,000 Chinese characters?
About 2 minutes 34 seconds reading silently, and about 3 minutes 55 seconds reading aloud. Silent reading uses 390 characters a minute, from a 2019 review of 18 studies that found 260 Chinese words a minute at 1.5 characters a word. Reading aloud uses 255 characters a minute, measured directly in the 2012 IReST reading-speed study.
Does it work with Traditional Chinese?
Yes. Simplified characters (简体) and Traditional characters (繁體) are both counted as Chinese characters, so the character count never depends on the script. The word count can differ slightly, because the browser's dictionary treats some words differently in each: 繁體字 comes out as one word, while 繁体字 splits into 繁体 and 字. Rare characters outside the common block, such as 𠀀, count as one character each.
Last updated: September 18, 2026