初 – first time, beginning

7 strokesTaught in grade 4#152 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 初 means first time, beginning. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is ショ (sho); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is はじ.め、はじ.めて、はつ、はつ-、うい-、-そ.める、-ぞ.め (hajime, hajimete, hatsu, hatsu, ui, someru, zome). It is written with 7 strokes, under radical 刀 (no. 18).

Stroke order

Stroke order from KanjiVG. Practise others with the stroke order lookup.

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	ショ	sho
Kun’yomi	はじ.め	hajime
Kun’yomi	はじ.めて	hajimete
Kun’yomi	はつ	hatsu
Kun’yomi	はつ-	hatsu
Kun’yomi	うい-	ui
Kun’yomi	-そ.める	someru
Kun’yomi	-ぞ.め	zome

A dot separates the kanji’s part from the okurigana (kana written after it), e.g. まな.ぶ → 学ぶ.

Radical and components

Radical: 刀 (Kangxi radical 18). Components: 刀.

Words using 初

初めはじめbeginning初めてはじめてfor the first time最初さいしょbeginning初級しょきゅうelementary level初旬しょじゅんfirst 10 days of the month初歩しょほbasics初めにはじめにfirst初版しょはんfirst edition初耳はつみみsomething heard for the first time

Example sentences

旅行の初めの二日間は雨降りだった。

The first two days of my trip were rainy.

Tatoeba #162444

１６歳の時、初めてテニスをした。

When I was sixteen, I played tennis for the first time.

Tatoeba #235933

しかし、抗議を通して初めて自由で開かれた社会が維持されるのである。

Only through protest can a free and open society be maintained.

Tatoeba #216322

Kanji with the same radical

分前制判利別割切副券劇創則削刊刑

Sources: KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0), Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). About the data.