始

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 始. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 始, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 始 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 始 you have here. The definition of the word 始 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of始, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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/
Bernhard
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

(Third grade 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[1][2][3], thỉ (詩(thi)止(chỉ)切(thiết))[2][4][3]
始: Nôm readings: thỉ[4][5], thủy/thuỷ[1], 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).
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia