漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
始: commence, begin
JLPT N48 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met
女 carries the meaning · 台 gives the sound
8 strokes
Three readings, and the words that use each
シshi · on'yomi · in compounds
- 開始するかいしするstart
- 年始ねんしbeginning of the year
- 始業式しぎょうしきopening ceremony (for a school)
- 始発しはつfirst train/bus
はじめるhajimeru · kun'yomi · on its own
- 始めるはじめるbegin [v.t.]
はじまるhajimaru · kun'yomi
- 始まるはじまるbegin [v.i.]
Also read -はじめる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)女 woman (meaning) + 台 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 始 (rev. 94532793), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Woman (女) + pedestal/platform (台). Originally suggested the beginning of life through a "woman," eventually evolving to mean the start of any process or event.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
台
Also built on pedestal (台)
The 台 family reads タイ (tai); 始 is read シ.
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side始 commence · 女
vs治 reign · 氵In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · shǐ
Same form: 始 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 始 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 始 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin shǐ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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