开

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to open (transitive or intransitive); (of ships, vehicles, troops etc) to start; to turn on; to put in operation; to operate; to run; to boil; to write out (a prescription, check, invoice etc); (directional complement) away; off; carat (gold); abbr. for Kelvin, 開爾文|开尔文[Kai1 er3 wen2]; abbr. for 開本|开本[kai1 ben3], book format

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HSK 3.0: Level 1
Old HSK: Level 1
Strokes: 4
Radical: 廾 +1
Structure: Top–bottom 上下
Traditional: 开
Common rank: #68
Unicode: U+5F00

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 开 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

Simplified form of 開; hands 廾 lifting the latch 一 of a door

Components 一廾

How to remember it

open · Heisig RSH #613

二 two — as a component also called: two hands

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 开

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
开会	kāi huì	to hold a meeting; to attend a meeting
开车	kāi chē	to drive a car (or train etc); (slang) to post sexual content online; to make a sexual jok…
打开	dǎ kāi	to open; to show (a ticket); to turn on; to switch on
开玩笑	kāi wán xiào	to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke
大开	dà kāi	to open wide
白开水	bái kāi shuǐ	plain boiled water
开化县	Kāi huà Xiàn	Kaihua, a county in Quzhou City 衢州市[Qu2 zhou1 Shi4], Zhejiang
开山	kāi shān	to cut into a mountain (to open a mine); to open a monastery
大开大合	dà kāi dà hé	(idiom) epic in scope; wide-ranging
开国	kāi guó	to found a state; to open a closed country
开水	kāi shuǐ	boiled water; boiling water
开市	kāi shì	(of a store, stock market etc) to open for trading; to make the first transaction of the d…
开头	kāi tóu	beginning; to start
开学	kāi xué	(of a student) to start school; (of a semester) to begin; (old) to found a school; the sta…
开发区	kāi fā qū	development zone
开心	kāi xīn	to feel happy; to rejoice; to have a great time; to make fun of sb
开花儿	kāi huā r	erhua variant of 開花\|开花[kai1 hua1]
南开大学	Nán kāi Dà xué	Nankai University (Tianjin)
开地	kāi dì	to clear land (for cultivation); to open up land
开口子	kāi kǒu zi	a dike breaks; fig. to provide facilities (for evil deeds); to open the floodgates

Sound family

These characters use 开 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
开 sound part	kāi	to open; to start, to initiate, to begin
研	yán	to grind, to rub; to study, to research
趼	jiǎn	blister, callus
笄	jī	hairpin; fifteen-year-old girl
邢	xíng	a state in Hebei province; surname
汧	qiān	marsh; to float; the name of a river in Shangdong
岍	qiān	the name of a mountain
锎	kāi	caesium