先
Tap the pinyin to hear it
beforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now; (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself)
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 1
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 儿 +4
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 先
- Common rank
- #482
- Unicode
- U+5148
Sound it out + + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 先
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 先生 | teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.); husband; (dialect) doctor; CL:位[wei4] | |
| 风水先生 | feng shui master; geomancer; stock figure in folk tales, as a wise adviser or a charlatan | |
| 先发制人 | (idiom) to gain the initiative by striking first; to preempt | |
| 先天不足，后天失调 | to be born with a weak constitution and suffer from ill health during one's life; (fig.) t… | |
| 先天性 | congenital; intrinsic; innate | |
| 一马当先 | (idiom) to take the lead | |
| 德先生 | "Mr Democracy", phrase used during the May 4th Movement 五四運動|五四运动[Wu3 si4 Yun4 dong4]; abb… | |
| 先天不足 | to suffer from a congenital deficiency; to have an inherent weakness | |
| 先进水平 | advanced level | |
| 先王之道 | the way of former kings | |
| 先行者 | forerunner | |
| 先见之明 | foresight | |
| 大先知书 | the biblical books of the prophets | |
| 事先通知 | preliminary notification; to announce in advance | |
| 好好先生 | Mr Goody-goody; yes-man (sb who agrees with anything) | |
| 先下手为强 | (idiom) strike first to gain the upper hand | |
| 后进先出 | to come late and leave first; last in, first out (LIFO) | |
| 先入为主 | (idiom) the first impression is the strongest; to hold a preconceived notion (about sth) | |
| 先王之乐 | the music of former kings | |
| 先人 | ancestor; forefather; sb's late father |
Sound family
These characters use 先 as their sound component — compare how they read.