初

Stroke order

初 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 中尸竹 (LSH), four-corner 3722₀, composition ⿰衤刀)

• 𢮀, 𦁅, 𫋶, 𪯨, 𭝘, 𤙟, 𤯦, 𠸗, 𩷞, 𪁲, 𠠭

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 137, character 33
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1911
• Dae Jaweon: page 310, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 327, character 22
• Unihan data for U+521D

Historical forms of the character 初
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意) : 衤 (“clothes”) + 刀 (“knife; to cut”) – start making clothes by cutting the cloth.

The various 𢀰-shaped glyphs are or are evolved from Zetian characters.

初

1. initial; inceptive

   初夏  ―  chūxià  ―  early summer

2. first

   初雪  ―  chūxuě  ―  first snow

   初戀／初恋  ―  chūliàn  ―  first love

3. prefix of dates from 1^st to 10^th in the Chinese calendar

   初三  ―  chūsān  ―  third day of a lunar month

4. original

   初衷  ―  chūzhōng  ―  one’s initial intention; original idea

5. elementary; basic

   初級／初级  ―  chūjí  ―  elementary

6. beginning; start

   四月初  ―  sìyuè chū  ―  early April

   民初  ―  mínchū  ―  beginning of the Republic of China era

7. just

   初出茅廬／初出茅庐  ―  chūchūmáolú  ―  to have just begun one's career without any experience (literally, “to have just come out of one's thatched cottage”)

   如夢初醒／如梦初醒  ―  rúmèngchūxǐng  ―  to suddenly realize; to wake up to reality (literally, “as if one has just waken up from a dream”)

   • 遙想公瑾當年，小喬初嫁了，雄姿英發。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     遥想公瑾当年，小乔初嫁了，雄姿英发。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1082, Su Shi, 念奴嬌·赤壁懷古

     Yáoxiǎng Gōngjǐn dāngnián, Xiǎoqiáo chū jià le, xióngzīyīngfā.

     Recalling the year when Gongjin had just had Xiao Qiao as his wife, robust and beaming with might.

• → Vietnamese: xưa

• “初”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: そ (so)
• Kan-on: しょ (sho, Jōyō)
• Kun: はじめ (hajime, 初め, Jōyō)、はじめて (hajimete, 初めて, Jōyō)、はつ (hatsu, 初, Jōyō)、うい (ui, 初, Jōyō)^{←うひ (ufi, 初, historical)}、そめる (someru, 初める, Jōyō)、うぶ (ubu, 初)
• Nanori: し (shi)、もと (moto)

• 最(さい)初(しょ) (saisho)
• 初瀬(はせ) (Hase)

⟨patu⟩ → /ɸat͡su/ → /hat͡su/

From Old Japanese.

Possible cognates include 始め (hajime, “beginning”) and 端 (ha, “edge of something”).

• (Tokyo) はつ (Odaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

初(はつ) • (hatsu-) 

1. the first..., initial..., new...

初(はつ) • (hatsu) 

1. a first, start, a beginning

   Antonym: 末 (sue)

   今年(ことし)初(はつ)のコンサート ― kotoshi hatsu no konsāto ― the first concert of this year

2. (slang) first sexual relations, one's first time

/uɸi/ → /uwi/ → /ui/

First attested in the Kokin Wakashū of roughly 905-914 CE,^[2] and assumed to be inherited from Old Japanese.

There is an apparently related term 初 (ubu) of overlapping synonymous meaning, first attested in the early 1000s. It is unclear how these two terms are related: one might be a derivation of the other, or the two might derive separately via other processes.

Both ui and ubu appear to be related to verb 生む (umu, “to birth”), from the sense of "first of something since one has been born".

Martin suggests that this might be a fusion of 生む (umu, “to birth”) +‎ 日 (hi, “day”), literally “birthday”.^[3] However, the meaning of any such compound would be the noun birthday with a sense of "the day a woman gives birth" rather than "the day someone is born". Also, phonologically, this would be expected to result in ubi: /umu/ + /pi/ → /umupi/ → /umpi/ → /ubi/.

Possibly cognate with 上 (ue, “above”, possibly via the sense of "upstream → earlier") or classical verb 生ふ (ancient opu, classical ofu, modern ou, “to grow”).

• (Tokyo) うい (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

初(うい) • (ui) ^{←うひ (ufi)?}

1. a first, start

• 初(うい)々(うい)しい (uiuishii)
• 初(うい)の子(こ) (ui no ko)
• 初(うい)冠(こうぶり) (uikōburi, “crowning a boy for the first time at a coming-of-age ceremony”)

初(うい) • (ui-) ^{←うひ (ufi-)?}

1. the first of something

From stem up- cognate with ui (historical uhi) above. Cause of the shift in voicing is uncertain. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) うぶ (Atamadaka – )^[1]
• IPA^(key):

初(うぶ) • (ubu) -na (adnominal 初(うぶ)な (ubu na), adverbial 初(うぶ)に (ubu ni))

1. innocent
2. inexperienced, green

• 初(うぶ)い (ubui)
• 初(うぶ)刀(がたな) (ubugatana)
• 初(うぶ)声(ごえ) (ubugoe)

From Middle Chinese 初 (MC tsrhjo).

Compare Min Nan 初 (chho͘).

初(しょ) • (sho) 

1. beginning, start
2. first, initial

Nominalization of 始め (hajime, “beginning, first”).

初(はじめ) • (Hajime) 

1. a male given name

初 (eumhun 처음 초 (cheo'eum cho))

1. hanja form^? of 초 (“beginning; start”)

• 초등학교 (初等學校, chodeunghakgyo, “elementary school”)
• 초보자 (初步者, choboja, “beginner”)

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: はじみ (hajimi, 初み)、はじみてぃ (hajimiti, 初みてぃ)、はち (hachi, 初)、うぃー (wī, 初)、すみゆん (sumiyun, 初みゆん)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *patu.

Cognate with Japanese 初 (hatsu-).

• IPA^(key):

初(はち) (hachi-) 

1. the first..., initial..., new...

From Proto-Japonic *patu.

Possible cognates include 始め (pazime, “beginning”), 僅か (patuka, “faint”), and 端 (pa, “edge of something”).

初 (patu-) (kana はつ)

1. the first..., initial..., new...

• Japanese: 初 (hatsu-)

初: Hán Việt readings: sơ (楚(sở)徂(tồ)切(thiết))^[1][2][3]
初: Nôm readings: xưa^{[1][2][3][4][5]}, sơ^[1][2][3][5], xơ^[1][2][3], thơ^[1][3][4], sờ^[1]

初 • (sơ, xưa)

1. chữ Hán form of sơ (“in the initial stage; primary; elementary”).
2. Nôm form of xưa (“old; ancient”).

初 • (xưa)

1. Nôm form of xưa (“a long time ago; old times”).