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Stroke order matters in Chinese: it keeps the character balanced, and it is how dictionaries and handwriting input methods expect a character to be written.
初 is an ideographic compound. Cutting 刀 the cloth 衤 is the first step in making clothes.
Radical: 刀 + 5 more strokes
chū初

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Open the tool →初 (chū) means “Initial” in Chinese.
初 is pronounced chū in Mandarin Chinese.
初 has 8 strokes.
初 is written in 8 strokes, starting from the radical 刀. See the animated stroke order on this page.
The radical of 初 is 刀, and 初 is an ideographic compound.