Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.
来láito come
未part of the character
丷eight form of 八 · bā
Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.
自zìself; oneself
自 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.
Memory aidDrawn from a nose. The usual explanation is that people point to their nose to mean “me”, so it came to mean “self”.
How to write 来自
来 7 strokes · 自 6 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 来自 (láizì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
来自 (láizì) means “to come from (a place)” or “From: (in email header)”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it láizì: lái with a 2nd tone, then zì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 来自 is written 來自. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type laizi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 来自 from the suggestions. Typing laizi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
来自 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
来lái2nd tone, rising
自zì4th tone, falling
