How to say “beginning” in Chinese
beginning (of a text, task); begin
“Beginning” in Chinese is 开头, kāi tóu: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
开头 is read kāi tóu: 2 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “开头”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 开头. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 这篇文章的开头很吸引人。zhèpiānwénzhāngdekāitóuhěnxīyǐnrénThe opening of this article grabs you right away.
- 请朗读第一章的开头qǐnglǎngdúdìyīzhāngdekāitóuPlease read aloud the beginning of chapter one.
More words from the lesson “Beginning, end and gist”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “beginning” in Chinese?
“Beginning” in Chinese is 开头, pinyin kāitóu.
What does 开头 mean?
开头 (kāitóu) means “beginning (of a text, task); begin”.
How do you write 开头?
开头 is 2 characters: 开 (kāi) — open; drive; 头 (tóu) — head. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 开头?
开头 is read kāitóu. Tones: kāi — first tone, tóu — second tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“beginning” in the lesson “Beginning, end and gist”
This word is from the topic “Texts and art” of HSK 6. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
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