始

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始 U+59CB, 始
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-59CB
← 姊
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 姌 →

Translingual

Stroke order
8 strokes

Han character

始 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 女戈口 (VIR), four-corner 43460, composition ⿰女台)

Derived characters

Further reading

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 258, character 16
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6166
  • Dae Jaweon: page 523, character 22
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1041, character 12
  • Unihan data for U+59CB

Chinese

trad. 始
simp. # 始
alternative forms 兘
乨
𠃭
𠙉

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (台) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
胎 *l̥ʰɯː
台 *l̥ʰɯː, *l'ɯː, *l'ɯː, *lɯ
邰 *l̥ʰɯː
鮐 *l̥ʰɯː, *lɯ
孡 *l̥ʰɯː
苔 *l'ɯː
抬 *l'ɯː
駘 *l'ɯː, *l'ɯːʔ
炱 *l'ɯː
菭 *l'ɯː, *l'i
跆 *l'ɯː
殆 *l'ɯːʔ
怠 *l'ɯːʔ
迨 *l'ɯːʔ
紿 *l'ɯːʔ
詒 *l'ɯːʔ, *lɯ
軩 *l'ɯːʔ
咍 *hlɯː
佁 *lɯːʔ, *l̥ʰɯs, *lɯʔ
枲 *slɯʔ
辝 *ljɯ
鈶 *ljɯʔ
笞 *l̥ʰɯ
齝 *l̥ʰɯ, *hljɯ
眙 *l̥ʰɯs, *lɯ
治 *l'ɯ, *l'ɯs, *l'is
始 *hljɯʔ
怡 *lɯ
貽 *lɯ
飴 *lɯ
瓵 *lɯ
珆 *li

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *hljɯʔ) : semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 台 (OC *l̥ʰɯː, *l'ɯː, *l'ɯː, *lɯ).

Pronunciation

Note:
  • sṳ̄ - vernacular;
  • sé̤ṳ - literary.
  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 始
Mandarin Beijing /ʂʐ̩²¹⁴/
Harbin /ʂʐ̩²¹³/
Tianjin /sz̩¹³/
Jinan /ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
Qingdao /ʂʐ̩⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Xi'an /sz̩⁵³/
Xining /sz̩⁵³/
Yinchuan /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Lanzhou /ʂʐ̩⁴⁴²/
Ürümqi /sz̩⁵¹/
Wuhan /sz̩⁴²/
Chengdu /sz̩⁵³/
Guiyang /sz̩⁴²/
Kunming /ʂʐ̩⁵³/
Nanjing /ʂʐ̩²¹²/
Hefei /ʈ͡ʂʰʐ̩²⁴/
Jin Taiyuan /sz̩⁵³/
Pingyao /sz̩⁵³/
Hohhot /sz̩⁵³/
Wu Shanghai /sz̩³⁵/
Suzhou /sz̩ʷ⁵¹/
Hangzhou /sz̩⁵³/
Wenzhou /sz̩³⁵/
Hui Shexian /sz̩³⁵/
Tunxi /ɕi³¹/
Xiang Changsha /ʂʐ̩⁴¹/
Xiangtan /ʂʐ̩⁴²/
Gan Nanchang /sz̩²¹³/
Hakka Meixian /sz̩³¹/
Taoyuan /ʃï³¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /t͡sʰi³⁵/
Nanning /t͡sʰi³⁵/
Hong Kong /t͡sʰi³⁵/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /si⁵³/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /sy³²/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /si²¹/
Shantou (Teochew) /si⁵³/
Haikou (Hainanese) /ti³¹/
Rime
Character 始
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 書 (26)
Final (韻) 之 (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 詩止切
Baxter syiX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ɕɨX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ɕɨX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ɕieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ɕɨX/
Li
Rong 		/ɕiəX/
Wang
Li 		/ɕĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/ɕiX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		shǐ
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		si2
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 始
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		shǐ
Middle
Chinese 		‹ syiX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*l̥əʔ/
English begin

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 始
Reading # 1/1
No. 12291
Phonetic
component 		台
Rime
group 		之
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		始
Old
Chinese 		/*hljɯʔ/

Definitions

始

  1. beginning; start
  2. to begin; to start
  3. initial; first
  4. proto-; eo-
  5. then; only then; only after
    Synonym: 才 (cái)

Antonyms

  • (antonym(s) of “beginning”): 終／终 (zhōng)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (始):
  • → Japanese: 始(し) (shi)
  • → Korean: 시(始) (si)
  • → Vietnamese: thuỷ (始)

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

始

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. to begin; to start

Readings

Compounds

Etymology

Kanji in this term
始
し
Grade: 3
on’yomi

From Middle Chinese 始 (MC syiX).

Affix

始(し) • (shi) 

  1. beginning; start
  2. initial; first

Derived terms

See also

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 始 (MC syiX). Recorded as Middle Korean 시 (si) (Yale: si) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

Pronunciation

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

始 (eumhun 비롯할 시 (birothal si))
始 (eumhun 비로소 시 (biroso si))

  1. Hanja form? of 시 (“beginning; start”).
  2. Hanja form? of 시 (“initial; first”).

Compounds

Compounds

References

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

始: Hán Việt readings: thủy/thuỷ, thỉ (詩(thi)止(chỉ)切(thiết))
始: Nôm readings: thỉ, thủy/thuỷ, thũy/thuỹ

  1. chữ Hán form of thuỷ/thủy (“beginning; start; initial”).

Compounds

Compounds

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nguyễn et al. (2009).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Trần (2004).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Génibrel (1898).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bonet (1899).
  5. ^ Taberd & Pigneau de Béhaine (1838).
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