開 · kāi
open; initiate, begin, start
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
open; initiate, begin, start
- Mandarin
- kāi
- Cantonese
- hoi1
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 開 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Source record & scope
Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property
カイ ケン ひらく ひらける あく あけるKorean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 개
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+958B
- Radical
- 門 · 169
- Strokes
- 12 · Unihan
- Residual
- 4
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
12 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 開
Character connections
No reverse component match in this collection.
Component roles · attributed
- 开 sound component · CJKVI analysis
Source analysis · 开聲
Line 8259 · ⿵門开 · 开聲 · source reference 4380250
# 【字通】會意
Source analyses, kept separate from modern IDS. CJKVI labels are not individually verified historical conclusions. Evidence & limits ↗
History & distinctions
Related forms
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- khoj · 苦哀 反切 · #384
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 3326 · khoj = 蟹開一平咍溪
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- kāi
- kCantonese
- hoi1
- kDefinition
- open; initiate, begin, start
- kTotalStrokes
- 12
- kRSUnicode
- 169.4
- kSimplifiedVariant
- U+5F00 U+2B52D
- kGradeLevel
- 1
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- kāi,qiān 74286.020
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- kāi 0626.051
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- kāi(3483)
- Mandarin / Cantonese · SMSZD
- kāi粵hoi1