开始
kāishǐ · HSK 3
begin
🚀 开 = open + 始 = begin; 'open the beginning' → start
开 means open/unfold (the door-bolt radical 一 lifting the gate 门). 始 pairs 女 (woman) + 台 (platform), historically tied to origins. Together: open up the origin = begin.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.