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初

chū

1. prefix initial, first, elementary

   我是汉语初学者。

   Wǒ shì Hànyǔ chūxuézhě.

   I am a beginner in Chinese.

2. noun beginning; the first days of a lunar month

   年初他去了一趟北京。

   Niánchū tā qù le yī tàng Běijīng.

   He made a trip to Beijing at the beginning of the year.

3. adverb just; only just (indicating something has just begun)

   他们初到这个城市，对周围的一切都感到很陌生。

   Tāmen chū dào zhège chéngshì, duì zhōuwéi de yīqiè dōu gǎndào hěn mòshēng.

   When they first arrived in this city, everything around felt very unfamiliar.

The full ChinesePath dictionary entry for 初 includes audio for every reading and example sentence, more example sentences, collocations, synonyms and links to the course units where it is taught.