初创
chū​chuàng

startup

初 chū beginning

Depicts cutting out fabric (衤) with a knife (刀), the first step in making clothes.

Components

衤
衤 Iconic component
yī clothes

衤 is a component form of 衣.

刀
刀 Iconic component
dāo knife

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsrhjo[ts]ʰra beginning

說文解字

《說文》：“初，始也。从刀，从衣。裁衣之始也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

创 chuàng, chuāng begin, establish Simplified

Original meaning: wound, injury

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 仓 represents the sound. Simplified form of 創. Based on the original meaning "wound, injury". The meaning "begin, establish" is a phonetic loan.

Components

仓
仓 Sound component
cāng granary
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

創 chuàng, chuāng begin, establish Traditional

Original meaning: wound, injury

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 倉 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "wound, injury". The meaning "begin, establish" is a phonetic loan.

Components

倉
倉 Sound component
cāng granary
刂
刂 Meaning component
dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsrhjang[tsʰ]raŋ wound (v.)
tsrhjangH[tsʰ]raŋ-s begin

說文解字

《說文》：“刅，傷也。从刃，从一。創，或从刀，倉聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)