始め

Japanese

Kanji in this term
始
はじ Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
初め一め (rare) 創め首め

Etymology

Nominal form of verb 始める (hajimeru, “to begin something”).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) はじめ [hàjímé] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
IPA^(key): [ha̠ʑime̞]

Noun

始(はじ)め • (hajime)

(especially 初め) beginning, the start of an activity or time period
始(はじ)めよければ終(お)わりよし。
Hajime yokereba owari yoshi.
A good beginning makes a good ending.
(especially 始め) origin, beginning of a thing

Synonyms

始(はじ)まり (hajimari)
冒頭(ぼうとう) (bōtō)

Antonyms

結末(けつまつ) (ketsumatsu, “conclusion”)
終(お)わり (owari, “ending”)
終(お)え (oe, “ending”)

Interjection

始(はじ)め • (hajime)

begin! used to announce the start of a race, an exam, and others

Verb

始(はじ)め • (hajime)

imperfective and stem (or continuative) forms of 始める (hajimeru) [ichidan]

References

^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.