Hanzio: Learn Chinese

Hanzio

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Hanzio is the free Chinese dictionary that turns characters into long-term memory. Whether you're learning your first hanzi or pushing toward HSK 9, it fits your day in short, focused sessions.

Chinese doesn't have a 26-letter alphabet. It has thousands of characters, and each one carries its own shape, meaning and pronunciation. That's why an efficient, practical method makes a real difference here — it's what turns study time into characters you keep. That's what Hanzio is built for.

It's built on two ideas from memory research: spaced repetition (you see each word again right before you'd forget it) and active recall (you pull the answer out of your head instead of just recognizing it on a page).

YOU PRODUCE THE ANSWER, NOT JUST RECOGNIZE IT
Every word comes back four ways:
• Meaning — type in what it means
• Pinyin — type the pronunciation on a pinyin keyboard built around real Chinese syllables and tones
• Writing — draw the character from memory with your finger or stylus
• Audio — hear the word spoken in Mandarin and pick the character it belongs to

These aren't flashcards you grade yourself — either you produced it or you didn't. That four-way coverage is what turns a character you've seen into one you can read, write, sound out and recognize by ear.

THREE PHASES, SO NOTHING SLIPS THROUGH
• Learn — new words one at a time, with the character's breakdown, a mnemonic, and all four modes taught together
• Review — all four modes are scheduled independently, so weak modes come back often and the ones you've nailed stop taking up your time
• Practice — a separate phase for the words you keep struggling with, so they get the focused attention they need instead of dragging down every review

A DICTIONARY THAT TEACHES
150,000+ entries in simplified (学) or traditional (學), with meanings, Mandarin pronunciations, stroke order animations, example sentences — and frequency data on everything. Search a word and its synonyms come back ranked by how commonly they're actually used, so you know which one to learn first.

Every character opens into a tree: 菜 breaks into 艹 and 采, 采 into 爫 and 木 — and each piece shows you the other characters and words it turns up in. Add your own mnemonic to lock it in. Study an official deck, or build a custom one.

WHAT'S FREE
The whole dictionary — all 150,000+ entries, stroke order, character trees, example sentences. Plus ten minutes of study every day, with no limit on which words you can learn. Premium buys you more time per day; it never locks words behind a paywall.

START WHERE YOU ARE
New to Chinese? Hanzio walks you in one word at a time. Already know part of the language? Mark what you've mastered and skip straight ahead — no grinding through what you already know. Ideal if you're switching from another app.

PROGRESS YOU CAN FEEL — AND FRIENDS TO KEEP YOU GOING
Earn XP, level up, and keep your streak alive. Add friends to see what they're learning and compete on weekly leaderboards — the easiest way to make a daily habit stick.

BUILT FOR REAL LIFE
Hanzio works offline, syncs across your devices, and is designed for short sessions — the commute, the coffee line, the five minutes before bed. And your data stays yours: export everything, anytime.

Start today. A few minutes a day, and by the end of the week you'll notice characters coming back to you before you've had time to think.