Chinese symbol for “begin”
开始
kāi shǐ
Traditional: 開始
to begin; to start; beginning; start
The closest CC-CEDICT match for begin is 开始 (kāi shǐ), defined as: to begin; to start; beginning; start.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “begin”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 始 | shǐ | to begin; to start |
| 开场 (開場) | kāi chǎng | to begin; to open |
| 兴办 (興辦) | xīng bàn | to begin; to set in motion |
| 起始 | qǐ shǐ | to begin; to start; at first; initially |
| 开启 (開啟) | kāi qǐ | to start; to begin; to initiate (an era, process, journey etc); (computing) to enable (a feature) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 开始.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 开发 (開發) | kāi fā | to exploit (a resource); to open up (for development); to develop |
| 离开 (離開) | lí kāi | to depart; to leave |
| 公开 (公開) | gōng kāi | open; overt; public; to make public; to release |
| 开放 (開放) | kāi fàng | to bloom; to open |
| 召开 (召開) | zhào kāi | to convene (a conference or meeting); to convoke |
| 始终 (始終) | shǐ zhōng | from beginning to end; all along |
| 原始 | yuán shǐ | first; original |
| 创始人 (創始人) | chuàng shǐ rén | creator; founder; initiator |
See also: Japanese symbol for “begin”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.