始 shǐ to begin; to start; then
Made up of [女 nǚ female; woman radical 38, 台 tái typhoon; platform ]Made with 8 strokes.
Originally a drawing of a foetues (upside down) and a woman denoting beginning of a baby's life
Related characters
Also uses 女 nǚ component: 矮 ǎi (low) 安 ān (peace) 妇 fù (woman) 姑 gū (paternal aunt) 好 hǎo (good) 婚 hūn (to marry) 姐 jiě (elder sister) 楼 lóu (multi-story building) 妈 mā (mother) 妹 mèi (younger sister) 奶 nǎi (milk) 如 rú (as) 她 tā (she) 妄 wàng (absurd) 姓 xìng (surname) 要 yào (want)
Also uses 台 tái component: 抬 tái (to lift) 治 zhì (to rule)
Sounds same
史 shǐ (history) 矢 shǐ (arrow) 豕 shǐ (pig)Different tone
狮 shī (lion) 师 shī 失 shī (to lose) 尸 shī (corpse) 诗 shī (poem) 施 shī (to grant) 十 shí (ten) 时 shí (time) 石 shí (rock) 实 shí (real) 饣 shí (food) 食 shí (eat) 是 shì (is) 事 shì (matter) 市 shì (market) 世 shì (life) 礻 shì (spirit) 士 shì (bachelor) 氏 shì (clan name) 示 shì (to show) 室 shì (room)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
People
始皇帝 Emperor Qin ShihuangdiProverbs
不善始者不善终 bù shàn shǐ zhě bù shàn zhōng Need to plan everything from the beginning千里之行始于足下 qiān lǐ zhī xíng shǐ yú zú xià Perseverance will lead to eventual success