初 meaning in English
(bound form) at first; initially; (bound form) first; early
Meaning of 初
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- (bound form) at first; initially
- (bound form) first; early
- (bound form) (in lunar calendar dates, before numerals 1–10) days 1 to 10 of a month, as in 初三[chu1 san1] "the third"
How to use 初
初 rarely stands alone and mostly appears in words meaning "beginning" or "first," like 年初 (niánchū) and 初步 (chūbù). It also marks the first ten days of a lunar month. Example: 大年初一我们去看奶奶。(Dà nián chūyī wǒmen qù kàn nǎinai.) On the first day of the Lunar New Year we visit Grandma.
初 (chū) is made of 衤 (the clothing side) and 刀 (knife). Picture a tailor making the first cut into cloth with a knife, the very beginning of making clothes.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 礻 (the spirit radical, one dot) instead of 衤 (the clothing radical, two dots). Another slip is writing the right side as 力 instead of 刀.
初 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
初 chū · at first · 7 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Related words
Words that share a character with 初.
| 当初 | dāngchū | at that time; originally |
| 初步 | chūbù | initial; preliminary |
| 初中 | chūzhōng | junior high school (abbr. for 初級中學|初级中学[chu1 ji2 zhong1 xue2]) |
| 初级 | chūjí | junior; primary |
| 年初 | niánchū | beginning of the year |
| 初一 | chūyī | first year in junior middle school; first day of a lunar month |
| 最初 | zuìchū | first; primary |
| 初期 | chūqī | initial stage; beginning period |
| 初等 | chūděng | elementary (i.e. easy) |
| 起初 | qǐchū | originally; at first; at the outset |
| 初次 | chūcì | for the first time; first (meeting, attempt etc) |
| 初衷 | chūzhōng | original intention |
Questions about 初
What does 初 mean?
初 (chū) means "(bound form) at first; initially; (bound form) first; early" and is used as a adverb and prefix.
How do you write 初?
初 is made of 1 character: 初 (7 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 初 an HSK word?
Yes. 初 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 初 and 第一?
第一 (dì yī) is the ordinary word for "number one" in a ranking or sequence. 初 means "early" or "at the beginning" and is used in set words like 初中 or 初次 (chūcì, the first time).
Why do lunar dates use 初 only up to ten?
In the lunar calendar, 初 marks days 1 to 10, as in 初五 (chūwǔ). From day 11 on, people just say the number, like 十五 (shíwǔ) for the fifteenth.