始め

What it means

What does 始め (hajime) mean? 始め (hajime) is the noun that refers to the point or moment when something gets underway and is used to mark the commencement of an action, event, or period; it functions as a concrete noun for the initial phase and often appears with particles to locate that starting point in time or context.

Main meanings

• 1. As an adverbial phrase (始めに (hajime ni)): used to introduce the first item or step in a sequence, equivalent to "first" or "to begin with".
• 2. To indicate origin or source in time: used when emphasizing that a state or condition existed from the outset rather than occurring later.
• 3. As part of verbs and compounds: appears in verb stems and nominalizations to signal the action of starting (different grammatical roles depending on attachment).
• 4. In contrastive nuance when written with different kanji forms: can carry subtle differences in nuance depending on orthography and context.

How to use it

Used across spoken and written Japanese to refer to an initial point or to introduce the first item in a list; common in casual and formal registers, it appears with particles like の (no) to mean 'the beginning of', with に (ni) to mark 'at the start', and as the stem of verbs such as 始める (hajimeru) and 始まる (hajimaru) to form verbal expressions of starting—widely used in instructions, narratives, presentations, and everyday remarks about sequence or timing.