ABSTRACT Background Previous studies on Activities of Daily Living (ADL) suggest that the wrist demonstrates different ranges of motion and frequencies in various directions. However, the specific directional characteristics of wrist activities remain unexplored. This study aims to investigate the directional characteristics of wrist motions during ADL with optical motion capture technology. Method This is a basic science study. Twenty‐six right‐handed subjects executed 22 ADLs, with angular wrist positions tracked via retroreflective markers on the dominant limb. The Cartesian coordinate system formed by wrist flexion–extension and radial–ulnar deviation angles was transformed into a polar coordinate system, enabling the directional analysis and the calculation of the directional range of motion (ROM). The directional distribution of trajectory points was analyzed using the Rayleigh test and visualized. The values and trends of directional RoM in 72 directions for both aggregated and individual ADLs were examined. The peaks of ROMs across ADLs were clustered using K‐means to identify key directions. Differences in gender and age were analyzed with a two‐way ANOVA. Result The trajectories exhibited a strong directional preference across all ADLs (p