How to Write 十 (shí) — Meaning “ten”

Imagine a plus sign (+) which looks just like 十, and think of adding ten things together. Another trick is to picture two crossed chopsticks, and remember that the number ten in Chinese is a simple cross.

Write the horizontal stroke first from left to right, slightly rising in the middle. Then draw the vertical stroke from top to bottom, crossing the horizontal exactly at its center. A common mistake is making the vertical stroke too short or off-center; both strokes should be roughly equal in length and meet at the middle.

十 is a simple cross meaning 'ten', while 千 (qiān) means 'thousand' and has a curved downward stroke at the top (a left-falling stroke) above the horizontal line. 卄 (niàn) means 'twenty' and looks like two 十 characters stacked vertically (like 廿 in modern simplified form but written with a horizontal line connecting two vertical strokes). The key difference is that 十 has only two strokes, while the others have extra strokes or different proportions.

十 is used for the number ten, such as in counting (十个 items) and dates (十月 means October). It also appears in the word 十分 meaning 'very' or 'extremely', as in 十分感谢 (very grateful). Culturally, ten is considered a perfect and complete number in Chinese tradition, appearing in idioms like 十全十美 (perfect in every way).

Common words containing 十 include: 十个 (shí gè) — ten (items); 十月 (shí yuè) — October; 十分 (shí fēn) — very; extremely; fully.