Tap any symbol to hear it, see a real word, learn why it sounds that way — then practise writing and typing it with the built-in keyboard.
Choose a writing system
🌍 Another alphabet or language — build its chart with AI
Pick or type any script or language (Armenian, Tamil, Amharic, Khmer, Swahili…). The AI builds a chart in the same format. AI charts can contain mistakes — check them against a trusted source.
✍️ How to write
Tap a square to hear it and see the explanation. Coloured dots show your progress: 🟢 mastered, 🟡 practised.
📖 Chinese character dictionary — every character explained in English
Chinese has no alphabet: each character is a syllable with its own meaning. Here are 7,700+ characters in order of how often they are used, each with its pinyin, its English meaning, how it is built (picture, idea or sound + meaning) and common words that use it. The 1,000 most common characters cover about 90% of everyday Chinese text.
Loading the dictionary…
Meanings and how characters are built: Make Me a Hanzi (LGPL). Example words: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Order: Jun Da’s character frequency list.
✍️ Writing practice
Write the symbol in the square with your finger, pen or mouse. Trace shows a faint guide, Copy shows it beside the pad, and From memory only plays the sound and shows the romanisation. Press Check to get a score.
Stroke order data for Chinese characters comes from the open-source Hanzi Writer project.
⌨️ Type in
No keyboard on your device? Open the on-screen keyboard and tap the letters — or turn on 🖮 My keys type it and your own keys type the script by position (the small grey letters show which key to press). Korean letters join into syllables as you type, Japanese can be typed in romaji and Mandarin in pinyin.
Letter by letter — tap any letter to hear it and open its explanation:
🏁 Typing challenge
You hear a word and see what it means — type it in the script. Use Hint to reveal the next letter.
🎧 Listening and reading quiz
Test yourself on the section you are viewing. Listening: hear a sound and pick the symbol. Reading: see a symbol and pick its sound.
About Alphabet Forge
Alphabet Forge teaches the world's writing systems: tap any letter of Thai, Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Russian, Hebrew, Hindi, Georgian and more to hear it and see an example word, then practise writing it.
How to use Alphabet Forge
Choose a writing system such as Thai, Arabic or Mandarin and tap any symbol to hear it.
Press “Practise writing it”.
Trace or copy the symbol on the writing pad, press Check for a score, then take the listening quiz.
Can I practise writing the letters?
Yes. Trace or copy each symbol on the writing pad and press Check for a score, then take the listening quiz.
What do the Chinese characters mean?
Choose Mandarin Chinese and scroll to the character dictionary: more than 7,700 characters, most used first, each with its pinyin and tone, its English meaning, how it is built (a picture, an idea, or a sound part plus a meaning part) and common words that use it. Search by character, pinyin (with or without tones) or an English word, hear each character and practise writing it.
Is Alphabet Forge free?
Yes. It is free to use, with no account, no watermark and no paywall. The AI uses a free shared allowance; if it is busy or at its daily limit, try again later or add your own Gemini key.
Are my files uploaded?
Only when you use its AI features: then the text you give the AI is sent to Google’s Gemini model through MigaBuilder’s free AI service, or your own Gemini key. Everything else stays in your browser.