■ radical

shǐ

to begin

How it’s built

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 台 represents the sound. The 女 (woman) component is used because life begins inside a woman.

女

meaning

woman; female

台

sound

platform; station; (simp.) table; counter — The pronunciation of 始 was similar to 台 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes.

Browse all characters →