Wubi method

Not to be confused with Wubihua method.

For other uses, see Wubi.

Wubi method
Simplified Chinese	五笔字型输入法
Literal meaning	five-stroke character model input method
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin wǔbǐ zìxíng shūrùfǎ Wade–Giles wupi tzuhsing shujufa Yue: Cantonese Jyutping ng5bat1 zi6jing4 syu1jap6faat3
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	王おう码
Literal meaning	Wang code
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin wáng mǎ Wade–Giles Wang ma Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Wong4 maa5

The Wubi 98 keyboard layout

The Wubi 86 keyboard layout (more common)

A QWERTY keyboard with Wubi 86 components

The Wubizixing input method (simplified Chinese: 五笔字型输入法; traditional Chinese: 五ご筆ぴつ字じ型がた輸入ゆにゅう法ほう; pinyin: wǔbǐ zìxíng shūrùfǎ; lit. 'five-stroke character model input method'), often abbreviated to simply Wubi or Wubi Xing, is a Chinese character input method primarily for inputting simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese text on a computer. Wubi should not be confused with the Wubihua (五ご笔画) method, which is a different input method that shares the categorization into five types of strokes.

The method is also known as Wang Ma (simplified Chinese: 王おう码; traditional Chinese: 王おう碼; pinyin: Wáng mǎ; lit. 'Wang code'), named after the inventor Wang Yongmin (王おう永ひさし民みん). There are four Wubi versions that are considered to be standard: Wubi 86, Wubi 98, Wubi 18030 and Wubi New-century (the 3rd-generation Version). The latter three can also be used to input traditional Chinese text, albeit in a more limited way. Wubi 86 is the most widely known and used shape-based input method for full letter keyboards in Mainland China. If it is frequently needed to input traditional Chinese characters as well, other input methods like Cangjie or Zhengma may be better suited to the task, and it is also much more likely to find them on the computer one needs to use.

The Wubi method is based on the structure of characters rather than their pronunciation, making it possible to input characters even when the user does not know the pronunciation, as well as not being too closely linked to any particular spoken variety of Chinese. It is also extremely efficient: nearly every character can be written with at most 4 keystrokes. In practice, most characters can be written with fewer. There are reports of experienced typists reaching 160 characters per minute with Wubi. What this means in the context of Chinese is not entirely the same as it is for English, but it is true that Wubi is extremely fast when used by an experienced typist. The main reason for this is that, unlike with traditional phonetic input methods, one does not have to spend time selecting the desired character from a list of homophonic possibilities: virtually all characters have a unique representation.

As its name suggests, the keyboard is divided into five regions. The Chinese character 笔 (bǐ), when used in the context of writing Chinese characters, refers to the brush strokes used in Chinese calligraphy. Each region is assigned a certain type of stroke.

• Region 1: horizontal (一いち)
• Region 2: vertical (丨)
• Region 3: downward right-to-left (丿)
• Region 4: dot strokes or downward left-to-right strokes (丶)
• Region 5: hook (乙おつ)

A major drawback to learning Wubi is its steeper learning curve, since as a more complex system it takes longer to acquire as a skill. Memorization and practice are key factors for proficient usage.

To use Wubi, there are multiple input methods available, including Google Input Tools (used by Google Translate) and keyboard options on Mac devices. Wubi sequences can be looked up for specific characters by using online dictionaries.

In this article, the following convention will be used: character will always mean Chinese character, whereas letter, key and keystroke will always refer to the keys on keyboard.

How it works

Essentially, a character is broken down into components, which are usually (but not always) the same as radicals. These are typed in the order in which they would be written by hand. In order to ensure that extremely complex characters do not require an inordinate number of keystrokes, any character containing more than 4 components is entered by typing the first 3 components written, followed by the last. In this way, each character's data can be entered with no more than 4 keystrokes.

Wubi distributes its characters very evenly and as such the vast majority of characters are uniquely defined by the 4 keystrokes discussed above. One then types a space to move the character from the input buffer onto the screen. In the event that the 4 letter representation of the character is not unique, one would type a digit to select the relevant character (for example, if two characters have the same representation, typing 1 would select the first, and 2 the second). In most implementations, a space can always be typed and simply means 1 in an ambiguous setting. Intelligent software will try to make sure that the character in the default position is the one desired.

Many characters have more than one representation. This sometimes is for ease of use, in case there is more than one obvious way to break down a character. More often though, it is because certain characters have a short representation that is less than 4 letters, as well as a "full" representation.

For characters with fewer than 4 components that do not have a short form representation, one types each component and then "fills up" the representation (that is, types enough extra keystrokes to make the representation 4 keystrokes) by manually typing the strokes of the last component, in the order they would be written. If there are too many strokes, one should write as many as possible, but put the last stroke last (this mirrors the component rule for characters with more than 4 components outlined above).

Once the algorithm is understood, one can type almost any character with a little practice, even if one has not typed it before. Muscle memory ensures that frequent typists using this method do not have to think about how the characters are actually constructed, just as the vast majority of English typists do not think very much about the spelling of words when they write.

Implementation of specific details

Many implementations employ further, multiple-word optimizations. Usually, a commonly used digraph (two character word) in which both characters have short form two-keystroke representations can be combined into a single, four keystroke representation which generates two characters rather than one. There are also a few 3-character shortcuts, and even one rather longer, politically motivated one. Some examples of these are provided in the examples section below.

Another common feature is the use of the 'z' key as a wildcard. The Wubi method was actually designed with this feature in mind; this is why no components are assigned to the z key. Basically, one can type a z when unsure what the component should be, and the input method will help complete it. If one knew, for example, that the character ought to start with "kt", but was unsure what the next component should be, typing "ktz" would produce a list of all characters starting with "kt". In practice though, many input method engines use a tabular lookup method for all table based input systems, including for Wubi. This means that they simply have a large table in memory, associating different characters to their respective representations. The input method then simply becomes a table lookup. In such an implementation, the z key breaks the paradigm and as such is not found in much generalized software (although the Wubi input method commonly found in Chinese Windows implements the feature). For this same reason, the multiple character optimization described in the previous paragraph is also relatively rare.

Some input methods, such as xcin (found on many UNIX-like systems), provide a generic wildcard functionality which can be used in all the table based input systems, including pinyin and virtually anything else. Xcin uses '*' for auto-complete and '?' for just one letter, following the conventions pioneered in UNIX file globbing. Other implementations have their own conventions.

Subdivision of the keyboard

The Wubi keyboard assumes a QWERTY-like layout, so users of keyboards implementing a nationalized or alternative layout (such as Dvorak or the French AZERTY) will probably have to do some remapping to make the system sane. Wubi does not position its components arbitrarily: there are far too many of them, and it is only with the introduction of a logical methodology that the system becomes easy to learn.

Basically, the keyboard is divided into 5 zones, each representing a stroke. Those five strokes are falling left, falling right, horizontal, vertical, and hook, and the zones that represent them are QWERT, YUIOP, ASDFG, HJKLM, and XCVBN, respectively. These zones are all laid out horizontally, with the exception of M, which is not in line with the rest of the letters in its zone.

In a general way, the keyboard can be thought of as divided down the center, between T and Y, G and H, and N and M. The keys in each zone are numbered moving away from this dividing line: so we should actually say that in zone QWERT, T is the first letter, R is the second, and E the third; in zone YUIOP, Y is the first, U is the second, I the third, etc. For XCVBN, N is the first, and so on. In HJKLM, consider M to be the last in the series, even though it does not lie on the line.

This is important because components in the first position will have one repetition of the stroke in question (the stroke assigned to the zone in which they belong), those in the second, two, those in the third, three. Those components which are not easily classifiable using this paradigm will be placed on the last letter.

Therefore, one would expect 一いち to be located on G, and 二に on F, and 三さん on D, and indeed, this is the case. Similarly, one would expect 丨 to be located on H, 刂 to be on J, and 川がわ to be on K. This pattern holds for all the zones. Furthermore, it extends to most radicals that look as though they are made up of three such strokes, even if in fact they might not be at all. An example of this is 中ちゅう on K: while it does not have three downward strokes (two only), it appears to have three. Furthermore, it is written by hand by first writing a mouth radical, 口くち, and then bisecting it with a vertical downward stroke. The mouth radical lies on 'K', so this makes the assignment doubly logical. And the pinyin romanization of 口くち, kou3, begins with k, another memory aid encoded into the Wubi keyboard.

Furthermore, each letter of each zone has one component associated with it, its "main component". These are usually a complete character (with the exception of X) in their own right. One can always type this main component by typing the letter it is situated on four times. So, for example, the main component of H is 目め, and so one would type it by typing "hhhh".

Each letter also has a shortcut character associated with it. In some cases, this character is the same as the component associated with the key in question, and sometimes not. This shortcut character is the character produced when one types just the letter and nothing else; these are all extremely common characters used when typing Chinese.

It is entirely possible that there are a number of components not listed below, either because of oversight, because they are rarely used, or because no simple Unicode representation for the component exists.

QWERT zone (falling left)

The Q key's main component is 金きん and its shortcut character is 我わが. It is associated with the following components: 金きむ, 钅, 勹, 儿, 夕ゆう, as well as the hook at the top of 饣 and 角かく, the radical 犭 without the lower left-falling stroke (so characters with that radical start with "qt", not just "q"), the criss-cross (such as in the center of 区く), the top of 鱼 (i.e., without the horizontal stroke at the bottom), and the three (nearly vertical) "feet" in the bottom right corner of 流りゅう.

The W key's main component and shortcut character are both 人じん. It is associated with the following components: 人ひと, 亻, 八はち, and the top of 癸みずのと. While 人じん means person, it is often used by Wubi to construct a roof radical, such as in 会かい, "wfc". 入いれ is not governed by W, despite looking similar, and while 餐 has a top that looks vaguely like the top of 癸みずのと, the two are not the same (indeed, to type 餐, one must physically type out each component on the top).

The E key's main component is 月がつ, and its shortcut character is 有ゆう. It is associated with the following components: 月がつ, 用もちい, 彡, 乃, the bottom of 衣ころも (i.e., without 亠), the top of 孚まこと (i.e., without 子こ), 豕いのこ (hog), the bottom of 良りょう (i.e., without the 白しろ), and the bottom of 舟ふね (i.e., without the little dot on the top). In this case, E's shortcut character does not even begin with a left-falling stroke, but merely prominently figures a component belonging to E. 彡 is featured on this character, as it is the third character in the zone (counting from T, see above). A particular distortion that comes up often is the use of E in 且 and in characters containing it: Wubi thinks of this component as 月がつ + 一いち.

The R key's main component is 白しろ, and its shortcut character is 的てき. It is associated with the following components: 白しろ, 手て, 扌, 斤きん (both with and without the T), 牛うし (without the vertical downward stroke), and of course the two left-falling strokes 𰀪 that one would expect from the second key in the zone (see above for an explanation). Watch out for varieties of 手て where the central downward hook is replaced by a left-falling stroke, such as in 看み.

The T key's main component is 禾, and its shortcut character is 和わ. It is associated with the following components: 禾, 竹たけ, 夂, 攵, 彳, and the top of 乞 (i.e., without the 乙おつ). 竹たけ may also be found in its smaller form (⺮). 丿 is also found on this key, because T is the first key in the zone (see above). This means that if one is typing a component or character stroke by stroke, they would (generally) use T to represent a left-falling stroke. See the section on disambiguation strokes for more information on exceptions to this rule.

YUIOP zone (falling right)

This zone might also be called the dot zone, because its pattern of Y: 讠 U: 冫 I: 氵 and O: 灬 is not actually necessarily built up of right falling strokes. In fact, one could argue that the first stroke in 灬 actually falls left. It is called the falling right zone because the keys in this zone, when used to construct a character by stroke (rather than component), all represent right falling strokes for some character configuration (see the section on disambiguation strokes for more information).

The Y key's main component is 言げん, and its shortcut character is 主ぬし. It is associated with the following components: 言げん, 讠, 亠, 亠 with a 口くち beneath it, 广, 文ぶん, 方かた, and 丶. These components all start with a right-falling stroke. Generally, dots in Chinese characters are actually left falling strokes, and so most of the time, the use of T is more appropriate than Y. Of course, if one can write Chinese characters by hand, they should be able to tell which to choose by recalling how it is written.

The U key's main component is 立りつ, and its shortcut character is 产. It is associated with the following components: 立だて, 六ろく, 辛からし, 门, 疒, 丬, 冫, the "antennae" on the top of 单 (just two strokes: 丷), and the antennae plus a horizontal stroke, as found on the top of 兹. Most of these all feature two short diagonal strokes (门 being the obvious exception). This is consistent with U's place as the second letter in the zone (see above for an explanation).

The I key's main component is 水みず, and its shortcut character is 不ふ. It is associated with the following components: 水みず, 氵, 小しょう, the three strokes on the top of 学がく, and the three strokes on the top of 当とう. Additionally, a component which might be described as two 冫, back to back, is associated with this character.

The O key's main component is 火ひ, and its shortcut character is 为. It is associated with the following components: 火ひ, 米べい, 灬, and 业 without the bottom horizontal stroke — this allows construction of characters such as 严. This is the 4th key in the falling right zone: hence the inclusion of 灬.

The P key's main component is 之の, and its shortcut character is 这. It is associated with the following components: 之これ, 辶, 廴, 冖, 宀, and 礻. As Wubi components are typed in the order that they would need to be written were one writing by hand, the 辶 and 廴 components are typically typed last.

ASDFG zone (horizontal)

• The A key's shortcut character is 工こう.
• The S key's main component is 木き, and its shortcut character is 要よう.
• The D key's main component is 大だい, and its shortcut character is 在ざい.
• The F key's main component is 土ど, and its shortcut character is 地ち. The main component's name (earth) correlates to the shortcut character which means earth.
• The G key's main component is 王おう, and its shortcut character is 一いち.

HJKLM zone (vertical)

• The H key's main component is 目め, and its shortcut character is 上じょう.
• The J key's main component is 日び, and its shortcut character is 是ぜ.
• The K key's main component is 口くち, and its shortcut character is 中ちゅう.
• The L key's main component is 田た, and its shortcut character is 国こく.
• The M key's main component is 山やま, and its shortcut character is 同どう.

XCVBN zone (hook)

• The X key's main component is 纟, and its shortcut character is 经.
• The C key's main component is 又また, and its shortcut character is 以.
• The V key's main component is 女おんな, and its shortcut character is 发.
• The B key's main component is 子こ, and its shortcut character is 了りょう.
• The N key's main component is 已やめ, and its shortcut character is 民みん.

Disambiguation strokes

Strokes of keyboard is divided into 5 zones

Zone	Keys	Stroke	Shape
1	GFDSA	一いち	Left-right (horizontal)
2	HJKLM	丨	Top-bottom (vertical)
3	TREWQ	丿	Falling left
4	YUIOP	丶	Falling right
5	NBVCX	乙おつ	Hook

Examples

Characters with 4 components or fewer (but no need for strokes)

Example 1: 请 Consists of three components: y (讠, radical #10), g (王おう*, radical 89), e (月つき, radical 118) → 请

Characters with more than four components

Example 2: 遗

Consists of five components: k (口くち), h (丨), g (一いち), m (贝), p (辶) → khgp → 遗 (it is not necessary to type m)

Characters with fewer than 4 components (needing strokes)

Example 3a: 文ぶん: First you type the key with the symbol on it, which happens to be 'Y'. Then you type the first component, which is also 'Y' for the 点てん stroke, then a 'G' for the 横よこ stroke，and since you now already have three strokes, you type the last stroke, which also happens to be a 捺, arriving at the keycode 'YYGY' for the complete character.

Example 3b: 一いち: The code for this character is 'GGLL'. As before, you type the key for the character first, which is 'G', then the first stroke of that character, which is also a 'G'. Because this is all necessary information, the L is used as a filler until you reach 4 letters. Note that the '一いち' is also the shortcut character for 'G' (making it one stroke only in practice).

Example 3c: 广: The code for this character is 'YYGT'. At first, you type the key where this character is located, which is a 'Y'. Then, you type a 点てん stroke, which is also on 'Y'. The next will be the 横よこ stroke on 'G', and the last will be the 捺, on 'T'.

Characters requiring disambiguation strokes

Example 4: 等ひとし

Consists of three components: t (竹たけ), f (土)ど, f (寸すん),

Disambiguation strokes: The last stroke is 丶 and the character is with top-bottom structure (42,u) → 等ひとし

Poem

A poem was made as a mnemonic for the Wubi keyboard, associating few characters with each key. The first character is the corresponding key main component, while the next ones are components or associated characters.

1986 version

G11王おう旁つくり青あお头戋五ご一いち
F12土ど士し二に干ひ十じゅう寸すん雨う
D13大だい犬いぬ三さん羊ひつじ古石ふるいし厂
S14木き丁ひのと西にし
A15工こう戈ほこ草くさ头右框かまち七なな
H21目もく具ぐ上じょう止とめ卜ぼく虎とら皮がわ
J22日にち早はや两竖与虫ちゅう依よ
K23口くち与川よがわ，字じ根ね稀まれ
L24田甲たこう方かた框かまち四よん车力
M25山やま由ゆかり贝，下しも框かまち几
T31禾竹一いち撇双人じん立りつ，反はん文ぶん条じょう头共三さん一いち
R32白しろ手しゅ看み头三さん二に斤きん
E33月がつ彡（衫）乃用家か衣ころも底そこ
W34人にん和わ八はち，登とう祭さい头
Q35金きん勺しゃく缺点けってん无尾鱼，犬いぬ旁つくり留とめ义儿一いち点てん夕ゆう，氏し无七
Y41言文げんぶん方かた广在四よん一いち，高だか头一捺谁人じん去さ
U42立たて辛からし两点六ろく门疒（病やまい）
I43水みず旁つくり兴头小しょう倒立とうりつ
O44火ひ业头，四よん点てん米まい
P45之の宝たから盖，摘示衣ころも
N51已やめ半はん巳み满不出で己おのれ，左ひだり框かまち折おり尸しかばね心こころ和わ羽わ
B52子し耳みみ了りょう也框向上こうじょう
V53女じょ刀がたな九きゅう臼うす山やま朝あさ西にし
C54又また巴ともえ马，丢矢矣
X55慈母じぼ无心弓ゆみ和かず匕，幼よう无力

1998 version

G11 王おう旁つくり青あお头五夫おっと一いち
F12 土ど干ひ十じゅう寸すん未み甘あま雨う，不要ふよう忘了革かわ字じ底そこ
D13 大だい犬いぬ戊つちのえ其古石せき厂
S14 木き丁ちょう西にし甫はじめ一いち四よん里り
A15 工こう戈ほこ草くさ头右框かまち七なな
H21 目上めうえ卜ぼく止どめ虎とら具ぐ头
J22 日にち早はや两竖与虫ちゅう依よ
K23 口くち流川ながれかわ，码元稀まれ
L24 田甲たこう方かた框かまち四よん车里
M25 山やま由ゆかり贝骨下か框かまち集しゅう
T31 禾竹反はん文ぶん双そう人じん立りつ
R32 白しろ斤きん气丘叉また手提てさげ
E33 月がつ用よう力りょく豸毛衣ころも臼うす
W34 人にん八登头单人几
Q35 金きん夕ゆう鸟儿犭边鱼
Y41 言文げんぶん方かた点てん谁人去さ
U42 立たて辛からし六ろく羊ひつじ病びょう门里
I43 水みず族ぞく三さん点てん鳖头小しょう
O44 火ひ业广鹿しか四よん点てん米まい
P45 之これ字じ宝たから盖补示しめせ衣ころも
N51 已やめ类左框かまち心こころ尸しかばね羽わ
B52 子し耳みみ了りょう也乃框かまち皮がわ
V53 女じょ刀がたな九きゅう良りょう山西さんせい倒たおせ
C54 又また巴ともえ牛うし入にゅう马失蹄
X55 幺母贯头弓ゆみ和かず匕

New-century (3rd-generation) version

G11 王おう旁つくり青あお头五一いち提ひさげ　
F12 土ど士し二に干ひ十じゅう寸すん雨う
D13 大だい三肆头古石厂
S14 木き丁ひのと西にし边要无女
A15 工こう戈ほこ草くさ头右框かまち七なな
H21 目もく止とめ具ぐ头卜虎とら皮がわ
J22 日にち曰两竖与虫ちゅう依よ
K23 口くち中ちゅう两川三さん个竖
L24 田た框かまち四よん车甲单底
M25 山やま由ゆかり贝骨下か框かまち里さと
T31 禾竹牛うし旁つくり卧人立りつ
R32 白しろ斤きん气头叉また手提てさげ
E33 月がつ舟ふね衣ころも力りょく豕いのこ豸臼
W34 人にん八登祭风头几
Q35 金きん夕ゆう犭儿包つつみ头鱼
Y41 言文げんぶん方かた点在てんざい四よん一いち
U42 立たて带两点てん病びょう门里
I43 水みず边一族ぞく三さん点てん小しょう
O44 火ひ变三さん态广二に米めーとる
P45 之これ字じ宝たから盖补示しめせ衣ころも
N51 已やめ类左框かまち心こころ尸しかばね羽わ
B52 子し耳みみ了りょう也乃齿底
V53 女じょ刀がたな九きゅう巡じゅん录无水すい
C54 又また巴ともえ甬矣马失蹄
X55 幺母绞丝弓ゆみ三さん匕

In media

In 2020, the history of Wubi was featured in a Radiolab episode titled "The Wubi Effect".

External links

• Official website
• Full tables of Wubi sequences