前

Unicode name	CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-524D
Codepoint	U+524D

Translingual

Stroke order

Phonosemantic interpretation

Old Chinese Initial /*s-/ lends semantic value Small/Thin/Slender. Final consonant /*-n/ lends semantic value Adhere/Be Proximate. Seal script style of the phono-semantic indicator combines an abbreviated form of 船 (boat progressing along a prescribed course) + 止 (leg/foot) → progression of boats or of people on foot. The addition of semantic indicator 刀 sword/knife suggests forward progress in small, choppy increments (compare 践 and 先). Present-day meanings are via association and extension. Source: Howell & Morimoto

Etymology

Ideogram (指事) – relatively complex, a boat (舟, now simplified to 月) headed forwards, onward (the top was originally 止, now simplified to 䒑).

Han character

前 (radical 18 刀+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 廿月中弓 (TBLN), four-corner 8022₁, composition ⿱⿱丷一刖)

1. in front, forward
2. preceding

Derived characters

• 揃, 箭, 剪, 煎, 椾, 偂, 媊, 葥, 翦, 湔, 鎆

References

• KangXi: page 140, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2011
• Dae Jaweon: page 318, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 248, character 4
• Unihan data for U+524D

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Cantonese

Hanzi

前 (Yale chin4)

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Japanese

Kanji

前 (grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: ぜん (zen), せん (sen)
• Kun: まえ (mae), すすむ (susumu)

Etymology

mape > maɸe > mawe > mae. Literally "before one's eyes". Compound of ma (“eye”) and pe (“direction”).

Noun

前 (hiragana まえ, romaji mae, historical hiragana まへ)

1. the front
2. the past

Prefix

前 (hiragana ぜん, romaji zen-)

1. the last, the previous
2. pre- (of an era)

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Korean

Hanja

前 (hangeul 전, revised jeon, McCune-Reischauer chŏn)

1. front (direction)
2. before

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Mandarin

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Hanzi

前 (pinyin qián (qian2), shā (sha1), Wade-Giles ch'ien², sha¹)

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Vietnamese

Han character

前 (tiền, tèn)