Chinese symbol for “first”
一次
yī cì
first; first time; once; (math.) linear (of degree one)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for first is 一次 (yī cì), defined as: first; first time; once; (math.) linear (of degree one).
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
Other Chinese words for “first”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 第一 | dì yī | first; most important; primary; foremost |
| 首次 | shǒu cì | first; first time |
| 原始 | yuán shǐ | first; original |
| 最初 | zuì chū | first; primary |
| 先 | xiān | beforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 一次.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一个 (一個) | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 一些 | yī xiē | some; a few; a little; (following an adjective) slightly ...er |
| 一样 (一樣) | yī yàng | same; like |
| 一定 | yī dìng | surely; certainly; definitely; fixed; settled |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with) |
| 一直 | yī zhí | straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; all the way through |
| 第一次 | dì yī cì | the first time; for the first time |
| 再次 | zài cì | once more; once again |
See also: Japanese symbol for “first”.
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.