初中
chū zhōng · HSK 3
junior high school
🏫 初中 = 初 (beginning) + 中 (middle) — the beginning of middle school
初 means 'first/beginning' and 中 means 'middle'. Together 初中 is the short form of 初級中學, literally 'beginning-level middle school', i.e. junior high (roughly grades 7–9).
初 — clothes radical 衤 + knife 刀
初 combines 衤 (clothes) and 刀 (knife), depicting the act of cutting cloth to begin making a garment. From this concrete image of starting a tailoring task came the extended meaning 'beginning' or 'first'. It is an associative compound, not phonetic.
中 — vertical stroke 丨 through enclosure 口
Pictograph of a banner or pole piercing the center of a target or territory, depicting the idea of 'middle' or 'center'. The horizontal frame represents boundaries, and the vertical line marks the central axis. The meaning extended from spatial center to 'middle, central, China' (中国, the Middle Kingdom).