初 = 衤 + 刀

初 is a Chinese hanzi, listed here under the keyword “beginning”. It is built from 衤 (clothes) and 刀 (knife).

Keyword: beginning
Pinyin (Mandarin): chū
Script: Chinese hanzi
Also known as: beginning, initial, primary, начальный, первичный, initial, primary
Same glyph as a Japanese kanji: 初 first time

Decomposition

ids

衤 clothes
刀 knife

How to find 初 without knowing its reading

On KumiJi Glyph Explorer, open the parts search and type “clothes” + “knife”. 初 is among the results, together with every other character containing the same shapes.

Open 初 in the interactive kanji search to expand every part down to its smallest pieces, add your own names and mnemonic stories, or search for other characters by their parts.