初めに

はじめに · hajimeni · JLPT N2 · expression

first of all

🏁 初め (beginning) + に (in) = in the beginning, so first of all

初め means beginning, and に marks 'in' or 'at', so はじめに is literally 'at the beginning'. Use it to open a list or a speech.

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.

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