始

shǐ
#381 most
frequent character
to begin, to start, then, only then

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

始 has 女 woman as the picture part and 台 tái as the sound part. It first meant 'older sister'. From there it grew to 'first (in order)' and 'start'. The sound link is not clear today.

Drawn as: woman

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Homophones

HSK 3
使shǐ
to make, to cause, to enable
史shǐ
history, annals
驶shǐ
(of a vehicle, horse etc) to go fast

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