(kāi) - to open; to start, to turn on in Mandarin

kāi

Traditional: 開

HSK 2

#405 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

to open; to start, to turn on

Word origin

开 means to open or to start. The traditional form 開 shows two hands lifting the bar (一) from inside a gate (門), the act of unbarring a door; the simplified 开 keeps the bar-and-hands element.

Origin: ideograph
Root: traditional 開: 門 (gate) enclosing hands lifting a bar; simplified 开

Stroke order

开

Examples

。

Please open the door.

？

Has the engine started?

灯dēng。

Turn on the light.

。

Please open the window.

九jiǔ。

The shop opens at nine.

开 (kāi) - to open; to start, to turn on.

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Appears in 13 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 开.

开始kāi shǐto begin, to start, beginning 离开lí kāito leave, to depart from 开心kāi xīnhappy, joyful, delighted 打开dǎ kāito open, to turn on, to switch on 开玩笑kāi wán xiàoto joke, to make a joke 开枪kāi qiāngto fire a gun, to shoot 开车kāi chēdrive a car 放开fàng kāilet go, release, set free 开门kāi ménto open the door, to open for business 走开zǒu kāito go away, to leave, get out of the way 让开ràng kāito step aside, to get out of the way, to make way 分开fēn kāito separate, to part, to split up 滚开gǔn kāiget lost, clear off, go away (rude)

Used in

Stories

(2)

Grammar articles

(13)

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Mandarin · Free printables

开: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 9.