始 – commence, begin

8 strokesTaught in grade 3#244 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 始 means commence, begin. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is シ (shi); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is はじ.める、-はじ.める、はじ.まる (hajimeru, hajimeru, hajimaru). It is written with 8 strokes, under radical 女 (no. 38).

Stroke order

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

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	シ	shi
Kun’yomi	はじ.める	hajimeru
Kun’yomi	-はじ.める	hajimeru
Kun’yomi	はじ.まる	hajimaru

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: 女 (Kangxi radical 38). Components: 口・女・厶.

Words using 始

始まるはじまるto begin始めるはじめるto start開始かいしstart始まりはじまりorigin原始げんしorigin始終しじゅうcontinuously始めにはじめにfirst始発しはつfirst departure (of the day)始末しまつmanagement終始しゅうしbeginning and end

Example sentences

その試合は何時に始まりますか。

What time does the game start?

Tatoeba #210021

いつゴルフを始めたのですか。

When did you begin playing golf?

Tatoeba #232836

私たちは姉妹３人で喫茶店を始めた。

We three sisters opened a coffee shop.

Tatoeba #74139

Kanji with the same radical

女委好姿婦妻婚妥威妙娘嫌妊妹姉妨

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