初
Meaning
- (bound form) at first; initially
- (bound form) first; early
- (bound form) (in lunar calendar dates, before numerals 1–10) days 1 to 10 of a month, as in 初三 "the third"
Example sentence
初次见面。
How do you do?
The character 初
初 is 衤, clothing, beside 刀, a knife: the first cut into the cloth. The beginning of anything — 初步 preliminary, 年初 the start of the year, 当初 back at the outset, 初中 the junior school years.