月初
yuè chū · HSK 7
early in the month
🌙 月 (month) + 初 (beginning) = the month's beginning, its early days
初 carries the sense of first or start, so 月初 literally stacks month + start. Pair it with 月底 (month + bottom = month's end) to anchor both ends of the calendar.
月 — pictograph of crescent moon
月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon, chosen over a full circle to distinguish it from 日 (sun). The inner strokes originally depicted the moon's shadow or markings. As a radical it often relates to the moon, time, or (via a lookalike form of 肉 'flesh') body parts.
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.