| 开始 | kāi shǐ | to begin / beginning / to start / initial / CL:個|个[ge4] |   |
| 最初 | zuì chū | first / primary / initial / original / at first / initially / originally | |
| 初步 | chū bù | initial / preliminary / tentative | |
| 初始 | chū shǐ | initial / starting (point) | |
| 头文字 | tóu wén zì | initial / first letter of word (in Latin script) | |
| 原初 | yuán chū | initial / original / originally / at first | |
| 初期 | chū qī | initial stage / beginning period | |
| 打响 | dǎ xiǎng | to start shooting or firing / to win an initial success / to succeed (of a plan) | |
| 后劲 | hòu jìn | energy to continue after the initial phase of an activity / delayed effect | |
| 萌生 | méng shēng | to burgeon / to produce / to conceive / to be in the initial stage | |
| 起价 | qǐ jià | initial price (e.g. for the first kilometer) / prices starting from | |
| 初赛 | chū sài | preliminary contest / initial heats of a competition | |
| 订金 | dìng jīn | an initial payment / earnest money / deposit | |
| 字头 | zì tóu | first letter of a word or serial number / first character of a Chinese word / first digit of a number / the top part (esp. a radical) of a Chinese character / the initial of a Chinese syllable | |
| 首字母 | shǒu zì mǔ | initial letters | |
| 声母 | shēng mǔ | the initial consonant of a Chinese syllable / the phonetic component of a phono-semantic compound character (e.g. the component 青[qing1] in 清[qing1]) | |
| 五音 | wǔ yīn | five notes of pentatonic scale, roughly do, re, mi, sol, la / five classes of initial consonants of Chinese phonetics, namely: 喉音[hou2 yin1], 牙音[ya2 yin1], 舌音[she2 yin1], 齒音|齿音[chi3 yin1], 唇音[chun2 yin1] | |
| 清零 | qīng líng | to restore sth to its initial state / to reset (an odometer etc) / to empty (a bank account) / to eradicate (a disease) / (computing) to clear (memory) / to zero (a hard drive) | |
| 音韵 | yīn yùn | music / rhyme and rhythm / initial, 音[yin1], and final and tone, 韻|韵[yun4], of a Chinese character / phoneme | |
| 双拼 | shuāng pīn | (computing) double pinyin (input method where the user types no more than two keystrokes per character, one for the initial and one for the final) | |
| 韵母 | yùn mǔ | the final of a Chinese syllable (the component of a syllable remaining after removal of the initial consonant, if any, and the tone, e.g. the final of "niáng" is "iang") | |
| 起始点 | qǐ shǐ diǎn | initial point | |
| 反切 | fǎn qiè | traditional system expressing the phonetic value of a Chinese character using two other characters, the first for the initial consonant, the second for the rhyme and tone | |
| 下马威 | xià mǎ wēi | display of severity immediately on taking office / (fig.) initial show of strength | |
| 三十六字母 | sān shí liù zì mǔ | thirty six initial consonants of Song phonetic theory | |
| 初步核算 | chū bù hé suàn | initial estimate | |
| 初声 | chū shēng | the initial consonant (or doubled consonant) of a Korean syllable | |
| 始点 | shǐ diǎn | starting point / initial point | |
| 零声母 | líng shēng mǔ | (Chinese linguistics) zero initial (the initial of a syllable that does not begin with a consonant) | |
| 首次公开招股 | shǒu cì gōng kāi zhāo gǔ | initial public offering (IPO) | |
| 最低初步成套服务 | zuì dī chū bù chéng tào fù wù | Minimum Initial Service Package | |
| 全球海洋观测系统的初步观测系统 | | GOOS Initial Observing System | |
| 初始视察 | chū shǐ shì chá | initial inspection / baseline inspection | |
| 危机局势中生殖健康最低初步成套服务 | | Minimum Initial Service Package for Reproductive Health in Crisis Situations | |
| 初始运作能力 | chū shǐ yùn zuò néng lì | initial operating capability | |
| 初始宣布 | chū shǐ xuān bù | Initial Declaration | |
| 落实共同声明起步行动 | | Initial Actions for Implementation of the Joint Statement | |
| 初次发放表 | | initial scale of issue / initial issue / initial stock scaling / initial supply | |
| 初次发放量 | | initial scale of issue / initial issue / initial stock scaling / initial supply | |
| 最初阻滞阵地 | | initial delay position | |
| 初次弹药发放 | | initial issue of ammunition / first-line scale of ammunition / ammunition initial issue | |
| 初始警报 | | initial alert | |
| 防止可避免残疾初步倡议 | | Initial Initiative Against Avoidable Disablement | |
| 初步组织委员会 | | Initial Organizing Committee | |
| 巴基斯坦洪灾初步应急计划 | | Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan | |
| 初始报告 | | initial report | |
| 首次出庭 | | initial appearance | |
| 第一桶金 | dì yī tǒng jīn | the first pot of gold / the initial profits from an economic endeavour | |
| 初试身手 | chū shì shēn shǒu | to have a try / to try one's hand / initial foray | |
| 简拼 | jiǎn pīn | (computing) input method where the user types just the initial or first letter of each syllable, e.g. "shq" or "sq" for 事情[shi4 qing5]) | |
