前 qián front; forward; ahead

Made up of [艹 cǎo grass; herb radical 140, 月 yuè moon; month radical 74, 刂 dāo knife (radical) radical 18]
Used as component 前 in :剪 jiǎn ; 箭 jiàn
Made with 9 strokes.
The original form had a boat heading forward hence 'front', the modern form has 'moon' with a 'knife' perhaps suggesting the night 'preceding' harvest

Related characters


Also uses 艹 cǎo component: 菜 cài (vegetable) 草 cǎo (grass) ; 茶 chá (tea) ; 懂 dǒng (to understand) ; 花 huā (flower) ; 节 jié (joint) ; 苦 kǔ (bitter) ; 蓝 lán (blue) ; 劳 láo (to toil) ; 满 mǎn (to fill) ; 猫 māo (cat) ; 蒙 měng (Mongol) ; 莫 mò (do not) ; 苹 píng (apple) ; 葡 pú (grape) ; 若 ruò (to seem) ; 苏 sū (revive) ; 萄 táo (grapes) ; 药 yào (medicine) ; 艺 yì (skill) ; 英 yīng (flower) ; 藏 zàng (treasury) ; 蒸 zhēng (to steam)
Also uses 月 yuè component: 胆 dǎn (the gall) 服 fú (clothes) ; 肝 gān (liver) ; 湖 hú (lake) ; 胡 hú (beard) ; 胶 jiāo (to glue) ; 明 míng (bright) ; 能 néng (to be able to) ; 朋 péng (friend) ; 朋 péng (friend) ; 期 qī (phase) ; 青 qīng (green) ; 散 sàn (to scatter) ; 胜 shèng (victory) ; 隋 suí (Sui) ; 阴 yīn (yin) ; 有 yǒu (have) ; 朝 zhāo (dynasty)
Also uses 刂 dāo component: 别 bié (to leave) 厕 cè (toilet) ; 超 chāo (to exceed) ; 到 dào (arrive) ; 刚 gāng (hard) ; 剧 jù (drama) ; 刊 kān (to print) ; 利 lì (sharp) ; 梨 lí (pear) ; 狮 shī (lion) ; 则 zé (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous sentence or clause)

Sounds same

钱 qián (money) ; 乾 qián (Heaven) ; 乾 qián

Different tone

千 qiān (thousand) ; 谦 qiān ; 浅 qiǎn (shallow) ; 欠 qiàn (yawn)

< Previous 乾 qián Next 浅 qiǎn >

Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

stroke order for 前
Stroke order for character 前, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚

Proverbs

空前绝后 kōng qián jué hòu Something that is genuinely new
前车之鉴 qián chē zhī jiàn Take account of what has gone before
前怕狼后怕虎 qián pà láng hòu pà hǔ To be obsessed by fears of attack from all sides
所向无前 suǒ xiàng wú qián To be able to conquer anyone on all fronts. Invincible against all opponents. An irresistible force
裹足不前 guǒ zú bù qián Unable to move forward due to misgivings. To hesitate about getting on and doing something.
前倨后恭 qián jù hòu gōng Treating people in a two-faced manner according to people's perceived power and influence. A snobbish person who changes their manner according to who they are dealing with.