HSK 6 · Time

起初 qǐchū “at first” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 起初 means

  1. at first
  2. originally
  3. at the outset

How to say 起初

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale起qǐ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale初chū1st tone, high and level

起初 in a sentence

  1. 起初我不相信他。

    Qǐchū wǒ bù xiāngxìn tā.

    I didn’t believe him at first.

    Sentence #846338 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 起初他以为英语很难，如今他觉得很简单。

    Qǐchū tā yǐwéi Yīngyǔ hěn nán, rújīn tā juéde hěn jiǎndān.

    At first he thought English was very hard, but now he finds it easy.

    Sentence #11243409 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 起初我没认出他来。

    Qǐchū wǒ méi rènchū tā lái.

    I didn’t recognise him at first.

    Sentence #848424 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 起初 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 起 (qǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
起qǐto rise
  • 走walk · zǒuMeaning part
  • 己self · jǐSound part

走 hints at the meaning (walk); 己 (jǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with qǐ.

The character 初 (chū) with each of its parts in a different colour
初chūat first; initially
  • 衤clothes form of 衣 · yī
  • 刀knife · dāo

How to write 起初

起 10 strokes · 初 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

起初 (qǐchū) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 起初 (qǐchū). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 起初

Words with 起

对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry一起yìqǐ · together起床qǐchuáng · to get up起qǐ · to rise起飞qǐfēi · take off in an aeroplane起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action引起yǐnqǐ · to give rise to看不起kànbuqǐ · to look down upon了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing起草qǐcǎo · to draft

Words with 初

初中chūzhōng · junior high school最初zuìchū · at first初级chūjí · elementary当初dāngchū · originally初步chūbù · initial

More words: Time & Sequence

漫长màncháng · very long年度niándù · year (e.g. financial year)农历nónglì · lunar calendar片刻piànkè · a moment迄今为止qìjīnwéizhǐ · so far清晨qīngchén · early morning期限qīxiàn · time limit时而shí'ér · sometimes

FAQs

起初 (qǐchū) means “at first” or “originally”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it qǐchū: qǐ with a 3rd tone, then chū with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 起初 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qichu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 起初 from the suggestions. Typing qichu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
起初 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.