先 (xiān)
first/in advance/early
How 先 is written
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- ⺧ — cow
- Traditional
- 先
- Simplified
- 先 (unchanged)
Components
- ⺧ cow
- 儿 legs
Common words using 先
- 先生 xiānsheng
- Mister (Mr.)
- 事先 shìxiān
- in advance; before the event; beforehand
- 優先 yōuxiān
- priority
- 先後 xiānhòu
- early or late; priority; in succession
- 先進 xiānjìn
- advanced (technology); to advance
- 先鋒 xiānfēng
- herald; pioneer
- 搶先 qiǎngxiān
- to rush (to do sth urgent); to try to be the first; to forestall
- 祖先 zǔxiān
- ancestor; forebears
- 領先 lǐngxiān
- to lead; to be in front
- 首先 shǒuxiān
- first (of all); in the first place
- 一馬當先 yīmǎdāngxiān
- to take the lead
- 佔先 zhànxiān
- to take precedence
先 in a sentence
你先去，我等一下就來。
Nǐ xiān qù, wǒ děng yīxià jiù lái.
“You go first, I'll come in a moment.”
How common is 先?
先 is the 188th most frequent character in written Chinese. Characters up to this rank account for about 54.5% of all running text.
Characters that appear with 先
Master 先 and 5,000 others.
Flashcards and Writing Practice. Every single character in A Course in Contemporary Chinese 當代中文課程.
先
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