U+521D "初" CJK Unified Ideograph-# Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
初
U+521D "初" CJK Unified Ideograph-# is a Chinese character that primarily means "beginning" or "first" and is composed of the radical for clothing (衤) combined with the knife radical (刀), symbolically representing the act of cutting cloth to start making a garment. This ideograph is frequently used in compound words such as 初期 (chū qī) for "early period" and 最初 (zuì chū) for "initial" or "first," reflecting its core semantic role in denoting origins or precedence. In addition to its linguistic function, "初" carries cultural significance in East Asian traditions, often appearing in calendar systems, personal names, and various contexts like 初一 (chū yī) for the first day of a lunar month.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+521D |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Name | CJK Unified Ideograph-# |
| Block | CJK Unified Ideographs |
| General Category | Other Letter |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Left To Right |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | 初 |
| HTML Hex Encoding | 初 |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE5 0x88 0x9D |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x521D |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x0000521D |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u521d |
Unicode Properties
Unihan Properties
| kBigFive | AAEC |
| kCCCII | 21574E |
| kCNS1986 | 1-4F4F |
| kCNS1992 | 1-4F4F |
| kCangjie | LSH |
| kCantonese | co1 |
| kCihaiT | 178.405 |
| kCowles | 572 |
| kDaeJaweon | 0310.010 |
| kDefinition | beginning, initial, primary |
| kEACC | 21574E |
| kFanqie | 楚居 |
| kFenn | 219A |
| kFennIndex | 97.02 |
| kFourCornerCode | 3722.0 |
| kGB0 | 1985 |
| kGB1 | 1985 |
| kGradeLevel | 2 |
| kGSR | 0087a |
| kHangul | 초:0E |
| kHanYu | 10327.220 |
| kHanyuPinlu | chū(405) |
| kHanyuPinyin | 10327.220:chū |
| kHKGlyph | 3679 |
| kIICore | AGTJHKMP |
| kIRGDaeJaweon | 0310.010 |
| kIRGHanyuDaZidian | 10327.220 |
| kIRGKangXi | 0137.330 |
| kIRG_GSource | G0-3375 |
| kIRG_HSource | HB1-AAEC |
| kIRG_JSource | J0-3D69 |
| kIRG_KPSource | KP0-EDE0 |
| kIRG_KSource | K0-7478 |
| kIRG_TSource | T1-4F4F |
| kIRG_VSource | V1-4C79 |
| kJapanese | ショ ソ はじめ はじめて はつ うい そめる うぶ |
| kJoyoKanji | 2010 |
| kKoreanEducationHanja | 2007 |
| kTGH | 2013:889 |
| kJapaneseKun | HAJIME HATSU UI |
| kJapaneseOn | SHO SO |
| kJis0 | 2973 |
| kKangXi | 0137.330 |
| kKorean | CHO |
| kLau | 351 |
| kMainlandTelegraph | 0443 |
| kMandarin | chū |
| kMatthews | 1390 |
| kMeyerWempe | 326 |
| kMojiJoho | MJ007483 |
| kMorohashi | 01911 |
| kNelson | 4215 |
| kPhonetic | 1353 |
| kRSAdobe_Japan1_6 | C+2419+18.2.5 C+2419+145.5.2 |
| kRSUnicode | 18.5 145.2 |
| kSBGY | 066.25 |
| kSMSZD2003Index | 57.11 627.02 |
| kSMSZD2003Readings | chū粵co1 |
| kTaiwanTelegraph | 0443 |
| kTang | *chriu |
| kTGHZ2013 | 049.090:chū |
| kTotalStrokes | 7 |
| kUnihanCore2020 | GHJKMPT |
| kVietnamese | sơ |
| kXerox | 243:352 |
| kXHC1983 | 0154.020:chū |