Jisho

×

7 strokes
Radical:
knife, sword 刀 (刂)
Parts:
Variants:
first time, beginning
Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 4
JLPT level N3
152 of 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Speed

Stroke order

On reading compounds

  • 初夏 【ショカ】 early summer, fourth month of the lunar calendar
  • 初演 【ショエン】 first performance
  • 年初 【ネンショ】 beginning of the year
  • 原初 【ゲンショ】 origin, source, beginning, starting point

Kun reading compounds

  • 始め 【はじめ】 beginning, start, outset, opening, first (in line, etc.), origin, such as ..., not to mention ...
  • 初めて 【はじめて】 for the first time, only after ... is it ..., only when ... do you ..., not until ... do you ..., first time, (one's) first
  • 月初め 【つきはじめ】 beginning of the month
  • 初めて 【はじめて】 for the first time, only after ... is it ..., only when ... do you ..., not until ... do you ..., first time, (one's) first
  • 初 【はつ】 first, new
  • 初夏 【しょか】 early summer, fourth month of the lunar calendar
  • 業界初 【ぎょうかいはつ】 the industry's first ...
  • 人生初 【じんせいはつ】 (for the) first time in one's life

Readings

Japanese names:
し、 はっ
Mandarin Chinese (pinyin):
chu1
Korean:
cho

Spanish

  • comienzo
  • primero

Portuguese

  • primeiros tempos
  • começo

French

  • première fois
  • commencement
428 A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese (Florence Sakade)
535 A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese 3rd edition (Henshall, Seeley and De Groot)
507 A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters (Kenneth G. Henshall)
261 A New Dictionary of Kanji Usage
4215 Classic Nelson (Andrew Nelson)
636 Essential Kanji (P.G. O’Neill)
353 Japanese Kanji Flashcards (Max Hodges and Tomoko Okazaki)
427 Japanese Names (P.G. O’Neill)
2.20 Japanese for Busy People
679 Kanji and Kana (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
692 Kanji and Kana, 2nd Edition (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
440 Kanji in Context (Nishiguchi and Kono)
181 Kodansha Compact Kanji Guide
1433 Kodansha Kanji Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
759 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
1031 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary, 2nd Edition (Jack Halpern)
411 Les Kanjis dans la tete (Yves Maniette)
1911 Morohashi
1116 New Japanese English Character Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
469 New Nelson (John Haig)
404 Remembering The Kanji (James Heisig)
431 Remembering The Kanji, 6th edition (James Heisig)
279 The Kanji Way to Japanese Language Power (Dale Crowley)
483 Tuttle Kanji Cards (Alexander Kask)
645 2001 Kanji
5e2.1 The Kanji Dictionary
1-5-2 SKIP code
3722.0 Four corner code
1-29-73 JIS X 0208-1997 kuten code
521d Unicode hex code

3 strokes
Radical:
child, seed
Parts:
child, sign of the rat, 11PM-1AM, first sign of Chinese zodiac
Kun:
-こ
On:
Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 1
JLPT level N5
72 of 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Speed

Stroke order

On reading compounds

  • 子 【シ】 child (esp. a boy), viscount, founder of a school of thought (esp. Confucius), master, masters and philosophers (categorization of Chinese classical literature), you, -er (i.e. man who spends all his time doing...)
  • 子宮 【シキュウ】 womb, uterus
  • 中性子 【チュウセイシ】 neutron
  • 精子 【セイシ】 sperm, spermatozoon
  • 主 【ス】 honorific (or familiar) suffix used after a name
  • 恵比寿 【エビス】 Ebisu, god of fishing and commerce
  • 久留子 【クルス】 cross sign
  • 対子 【トイツ】 pair, eyes
  • 七対子 【チートイツ】 seven pairs, winning hand composed of seven pairs

Kun reading compounds

  • 子 【こ】 child, kid, teenager, youngster, young (non-adult) person, (one's) child, offspring, young woman, young (animal), offshoot, interest, new share, player who is not a dealer, young geisha, young prostitute, bird egg, -er (often of young women)
  • 子 【こう】 child, interest
  • 根っこ 【ねっこ】 root (of a plant), stump (of a tree), root (of a problem, etc.), base, foundation, origin, source
  • 江戸っ子 【えどっこ】 (true) Tokyoite, Edoite, Tokyo native, Edokko
  • 子 【ね】 the Rat (first sign of the Chinese zodiac), hour of the Rat (around midnight, 11pm to 1am, or 12 midnight to 2am), north, eleventh month of the lunar calendar
  • 子忌み 【ねいみ】 collecting herbs and pulling out young pine trees by the roots (annual event held on the first day of the Rat of the New Year)
  • 庚子 【かのえね】 Metal Rat (37th term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1960, 2020, 2080)
  • 甲子 【きのえね】 Wood Rat (1st term of the sexagenary cycle, e.g. 1924, 1984, 2044)

Readings

Japanese names:
い、 き、 ぎ、 く、 け、 ねっ
Mandarin Chinese (pinyin):
zi3, zi2, zi5
Korean:
ja

Spanish

  • chiquillo
  • niño

Portuguese

  • criança

French

  • enfant
  • signe de la 1ère branche terrestre
  • signe du Rat (zodiaque)
  • 23 h à 01 h
  • Nord (0°)
31 A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese (Florence Sakade)
40 A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese 3rd edition (Henshall, Seeley and De Groot)
25 A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters (Kenneth G. Henshall)
56 A New Dictionary of Kanji Usage
1264 Classic Nelson (Andrew Nelson)
61 Essential Kanji (P.G. O’Neill)
43 Japanese Kanji Flashcards (Max Hodges and Tomoko Okazaki)
38 Japanese Names (P.G. O’Neill)
2.18 Japanese for Busy People
103 Kanji and Kana (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
103 Kanji and Kana, 2nd Edition (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
69 Kanji in Context (Nishiguchi and Kono)
455 Kodansha Compact Kanji Guide
4196 Kodansha Kanji Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
2125 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
2872 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary, 2nd Edition (Jack Halpern)
96 Les Kanjis dans la tete (Yves Maniette)
6930 Morohashi
3390 New Japanese English Character Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
1281 New Nelson (John Haig)
95 Remembering The Kanji (James Heisig)
99 Remembering The Kanji, 6th edition (James Heisig)
42 The Kanji Way to Japanese Language Power (Dale Crowley)
18 Tuttle Kanji Cards (Alexander Kask)
3547 2001 Kanji
2c0.1 The Kanji Dictionary
4-3-1 SKIP code
4-2-1 SKIP code
1740.7 Four corner code
1-27-50 JIS X 0208-1997 kuten code
5b50 Unicode hex code