Chinese symbol for “initially”
初
chū
(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 (chū sān) "the third"
The closest CC-CEDICT match for initially is 初 (chū), defined as: (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 (chū sān) "the third".
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 “initially”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 最初 | zuì chū | first; primary |
| 本 | běn | (bound form) root; stem; (bound form) origin; source |
| 起始 | qǐ shǐ | to begin; to start; at first; initially |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 初.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 当初 (當初) | dāng chū | at that time; originally |
| 初期 | chū qī | initial stage; beginning period |
| 最初 | zuì chū | first; primary |
| 年初 | nián chū | beginning of the year |
| 初步 | chū bù | initial; preliminary |
| 初中 | chū zhōng | junior high school (abbr. for 初级中学 (chū jí zhōng xué)) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “initially”.
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.