Emaki · all 1,500 words

第一

だいいち

number one, first

Mnemonic

Whatever else is on the list, this one sits at the top of it. Work, ahead of everything, and the same itch いち as 一 right there at number one: だいいち.

Worth knowing

最初 さいしょ is first in time, the beginning of a thing. 第一 is first in importance.

Built from

order, ordinal
竹 bamboo on top, whose joints come one after another in order. It marks which number in a sequence.
one
A single stroke. It doesn't get simpler than this.

Words sharing these kanji

(the) most one once instant, for a moment what on earth, what the… once more for the time being, more or less together in one go (one) part single word, a few words not at all, absolutely nothing

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Emaki is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Kaishi 1.5k or its authors. The word, reading and meaning come from the Kaishi 1.5k deck, used with their permission. The mnemonic, the note and the kanji breakdown are original work, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.