Chinese symbol for “beginning”
开头
kāi tóu
Traditional: 開頭
beginning; to start
The closest CC-CEDICT match for beginning is 开头 (kāi tóu), defined as: beginning; to 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 “beginning”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 朔 | shuò | beginning; first day of lunar month |
| 开始 (開始) | kāi shǐ | to begin; to start; beginning; start |
| 开端 (開端) | kāi duān | start; beginning |
| 伊始 | yī shǐ | outset; beginning |
| 起头 (起頭) | qǐ tóu | to start; at first |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 开头.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 开始 (開始) | kāi shǐ | to begin; to start; beginning; start |
| 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 |
| 头发 (頭髮) | tóu fa | hair (on the head) |
| 街头 (街頭) | jiē tóu | street |
See also: Japanese symbol for “beginning”.
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.