HSK Guide

开開 kāi — to open; to turn on, to switch on; to start, to begin; to drive (a vehicle); to hold (a meeting)

kāi (first tone, high and level)

Traditional: 開

to open; to turn on, to switch on; to start, to begin; to drive (a vehicle); to hold (a meeting)

4 strokesRadical 廾Frequency #76
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Pinyin

  • kāi (first tone, high and level)

to open; to turn on, to switch on; to start, to begin; to drive (a vehicle); to hold (a meeting)

Character breakdown

  • 廾meaning partno entry yetTwo hands raised together. In the traditional 開 they lift the bar out of a gate 門.
  • 一shape partno entry yetThe bar itself, lying across the hands.

Mnemonic

Four strokes: two hands 廾 lifting a bar 一. The gate they were lifting it out of is still there in the traditional 開 and was cut away in simplification, so the character is now filed under the hands. One verb, a great many objects: 开门, 开车, 开灯, 开会, 开始, 开药 for a doctor writing a prescription.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 开