起初

起初 qǐchū

Originally (at the outset)

What 起初 means

  1. Originally (at the outset)

These meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the Chinese to Pinyin translator and the Chinese to English translator, so a whole sentence containing 起初 will read it the same way this page does.

Recognise a piece of 起初 but not the character it belongs to? Pick the parts in the component character finder and it will name the character for you — free for every character, with nothing to sign in to.

Character by character

起初 is written with 2 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

起
qǐ
Rise (get up - remove - form - become - sketch out - establish)
初
chū
Initially (first - primary)

How to write 起初

Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.

Practise 起初 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.

起初 in a sentence

起初我并不同意这个方案。
Qǐchū wǒ bìng bù tóngyì zhège fāng'àn.
At first I did not agree with this plan.
起初大家都不熟,后来慢慢就好了。
Qǐchū dàjiā dōu bù shú, hòulái mànmàn jiù hǎo le.
At first nobody knew each other, but it gradually got better.

Every sentence on this site that uses 起初 is collected on the 起初 sentence page. Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 起初

What does 起初 mean in English?

起初 is pronounced qǐchū and means Originally (at the outset).

How do you pronounce 起初?

起初 is qǐchū in pinyin — written qichu without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 起初?

起初 is written with 2 characters: 起 (qǐ) Rise (get up - remove - form - become - sketch out - establish), 初 (chū) Initially (first - primary). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

Is 起初 an HSK word?

Yes — 起初 is on the official HSK 6 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 6 page.

Studied around the same time

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Translate a whole sentence containing 起初 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 6, drill it with HSK flashcards, or save it above and review it on your review deck.

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