初等
chū děng · HSK 6
elementary (i.e. easy)
🅰️ 初 = first/beginning + 等 = rank/grade → first-grade level, i.e. elementary
初 means 'first' or 'initial' (think 初级, 初次); 等 means 'rank' or 'grade' (think 等级). Together 初等 literally reads as 'first-grade', the bottom rung of difficulty — hence elementary or basic.
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.
等 — bamboo radical 竹 + temple 寺
Originally referred to bamboo slips of equal length used for record-keeping, with 竹 (bamboo) as the semantic component and 寺 suggesting the phonetic. From 'equal-length slips' the meaning extended to 'rank, class,' then 'equal,' and later to 'wait' (to be of equal status in line).