初 (chū): beginning
初 (chū) is a Chinese character meaning “beginning.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 衤 (structural) and 刀 (structural). It ranks #667 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 初 cutting 刀 the cloth 衤 is the first step in making clothes. Its radical form 衤 (clothing) appears in many related characters such as 衣 (yī, clothing), 表 (biǎo, exterior surface), 装 (zhuāng, dress, install).
Definitions
- beginning
Etymology & Origin
ideographicCutting 刀 the cloth 衤 is the first step in making clothes
Decomposition: ⿰衤刀 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 初 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 初
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 当初noun | dāng chū | at that time | 6 |
| 最初noun | zuì chū | first | 5 |
| 起初noun | qǐ chū | originally | 6 |
| 初步adjective | chū bù | initial | 6 |
| 初中 | chū zhōng | junior high school (abbr. for 初級中學|初级中学[chu1 ji2 zhong1 xue2]) | 3 |
| 初级adjective | chū jí | junior | 5 |
| 初期noun | chū qī | initial stage | 5 |
| 年初noun | nián chū | beginning of the year | 5 |
| 初等adjective | chū děng | elementary (i.e. easy) | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 初恋 | chū liàn | first love |
| 初次 | chū cì | for the first time |
| 初衷 | chū zhōng | original intention |
| 初始 | chū shǐ | initial |
| 初学者 | chū xué zhě | beginning student |
| 初始化 | chū shǐ huà | (computing) to initialize |
| 初选 | chū xuǎn | primary election |
| 初犯 | chū fàn | first offender |
| 初稿 | chū gǎo | first draft (of writing) |
| 初中生 | chū zhōng shēng | junior high student |
| 初一 | chū yī | first day of lunar month |
| 初出茅庐 | chū chū máo lú | venturing from one's thatched hut for the first time (idiom) |
| 初来乍到 | chū lái zhà dào | to be a newcomer |
| 初审 | chū shěn | preliminary trial |
| 初三 | chū sān | third year in junior middle school |
初 appears in 100 compound words: 63 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 12 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 初 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (14)
first sign of budding talent; to display one's ability for the first time
Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing 初.
Example Sentences
初次见面，请多关照，希望以后能合作愉快。
Chūcì jiànmiàn, qǐng duō guānzhào, xīwàng yǐhòu néng hézuò yúkuài.
Nice to meet you for the first time; please take care of me, and I hope we can cooperate happily in the future.
大年初一,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工智能为膜蛋白造...
dà nián chū yī , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn bái zào . . .
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, ZJU issued a topical paper: Using artificial intelligence to make membrane proteins for...
大年初一,马克龙用中文拜年
dà nián chū yī , mǎ kè lóng yòng zhōng wén bài nián
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Macron paid tribute in Chinese.
年初二全国高速公路流量快速回升,午后车流持续...
nián chū èr quán guó gāo sù gōng lù liú liáng kuài sù huí shēng , wǔ hòu chē liú chí xù . . .
Traffic volume on national expressways rebounded rapidly on the second day of the Lunar New Year, with traffic flow continuing into the afternoon...
春节祭英烈 初心永不忘 华北军区烈士陵园开展“春节..
chūn jié zhài yīng liè chū xīn yǒng bù wàng huá běi jūn ōu liè shì líng yuán kāi zhǎn chūn jié . .
Honoring Martyrs During Spring Festival: Never Forget Our Original Aspiration Martyrs' Cemetery of North China Military Region Launches "Spring Festival..."
起初，神创造了天地。
Qǐchū, shén chuàngzào le tiāndì.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
最初的旗袍是宽松的。
Zuì chū de qípáo shì kuānsōng de.
The original qipao was wide and loose.
明代十五世纪初紫禁城是北京的中心。
Míngdài shíwǔ shìjì chū Zǐjìnchéng shì Běijīng de zhōngxīn.
In the Ming Dynasty (early 15th century) the centre of Beijing was the Forbidden City.
起初我们并不熟悉，渐渐地就熟悉起来了。
Qǐchū wǒmen bìngbù shúxī, jiànjiàn de jiù shúxī qǐlai le.
At first, we weren't familiar at all. Over time we got to know each other.
要不是当初有内战，他们现在应该挺富裕了。
Yàobushì dāngchū yǒu nèizhàn, tāmen xiànzài yīnggāi tǐng fùyù le.
If it had not been for civil war, they would be wealthy now.
Character Family
衤 Radical Family — Characters sharing the clothing radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 初 (chū) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 初 have?
What is the radical of 初?
What are the components of 初?
What are common words containing 初?
What characters sound the same as 初 (chū)?
Is 初 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 初 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.