첫째
cheotjjae · TOPIK 1
first
🥇 첫째 = 첫 (first) + 째 (ordinal ending, like -th)
첫 means first or initial, as in 첫눈 (first snow) and 첫사랑 (first love). 째 is the suffix that turns numbers into ordinals: 둘째 second, 셋째 third. 첫째 is the irregular one, using 첫 instead of 하나, and it also means the firstborn child.