初

初 (radical 18, 刀+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 中尸竹 (LSH), four-corner 3722₀, composition ⿰衤刀)

• 𢮀, 𦁅, 𫋶, 𪯨, 𭝘, 𤙟, 𤯦, 𠸗, 𩷞, 𪁲, 𠠭

Wikidata

• KangXi: page 137, character 33
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1911
• Dae Jaweon: page 310, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 327, character 22
• Unihan data for U+521D

Historical forms of the character 初
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 衤 (“clothes”) + 刀 (“knife; to cut”) – start making clothes by cutting the cloth.

The various 𢀰-shaped glyphs are or are evolved from Zetian characters.

初

1. initial; inceptive
2. original; first; primary
3. elementary; basic
4. beginning; start
5. initially; originally

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. beginning, start, first

• Go-on: そ (so)
• Kan-on: しょ (sho, Jōyō)
• Kun: はじめ (hajime, 初め, Jōyō); はじめて (hajimete, 初めて, Jōyō); はつ (hatsu, 初, Jōyō); うい (ui, 初, Jōyō); そめる (someru, 初める, Jōyō)
• Nanori: はじめ (hajime); し (shi); もと (moto)

• 初 (はつ)雪 (ゆき) (hatsuyuki): the first snow
• 初 (しょ)心 (しん) (shoshin): original intention
• 初 (しょ)心 (しん)者 (しゃ) (shoshinsha): beginner
• 最 (さい)初 (しょ) (saisho): first
• 初 (しょ)速 (そく)度 (ど) (shosokudo): initial velocity
• 初 (しょ)夏 (か) (shoka): the beginning of summer
• 初 (しょ)春 (しゅん) (shoshun): the beginning of spring
• 初 (しょ)秋 (しゅう) (shoshū): the beginning of autumn
• 初 (しょ)冬 (とう) (shotō): the beginning of winter
• 初 (はつ)誕 (たん)生 (じょう) (hatsutanjō): first birthday
• 初 (うい)々 (うい)しい (uiuishii): innocent

• 初 (はじ)め (hajime)
• 初 (はじ)めて (hajimete)
• 初 (ぞ)め (-zome)
• 書 (か)き初 (ぞ)め (kakizome)

• 始

From Old Japanese.

upi > uɸi > uwi > ui.

初 (hiragana うい, rōmaji ui, historical hiragana うひ)

1. the first; a start

初 (hiragana うい, rōmaji ui-, historical hiragana うひ)

1. first

From Old Japanese.

patu > ɸatu > hatu

初 (hiragana はつ, rōmaji hatsu)

1. the first; a start; the beginning

   今年 (ことし)初 (はつ)のコンサート

   kotoshi hatsu no konsāto

   the first concert of this year

2. first sexual relations

Antonyms

• 末 (すえ) (sue, “last, end”)

初 (hiragana はつ, rōmaji hatsu-)

1. first

From 始め (hajime, “beginning, first”).

初 (hiragana はじめ, rōmaji Hajime)

1. A male given name

初 • (cho) (hangeul 초, revised cho, McCune–Reischauer ch'o)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

初: Hán Việt readings: sơ (楚(sở)徂(tồ)切(thiết))[1][2][3]
初: Nôm readings: xưa[1][2][3][4][5], sơ[1][2][3][5], xơ[1][2][3], thơ[1][3][4], sờ[1]

1. Hán tự form of sơ (“in the initial stage; primary; elementary”).
2. Nôm form of xưa (“old; ancient; a long time ago”).