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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

先

xiān
first; ahead of time; before; beforehand
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 儿
  • 6 strokes

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Origin

The character 先 is an ideogrammic compound (會意) composed of the components 止 (foot) and 儿 (standing person). According to the Shuowen Jiezi, it means to go forward (前進也).

It is a Sino-Tibetan word and is cognate with the Tibetan བསེལ (bsel, “to protect (on a dangerous path); to escort”) and the Chepang स्यालःसा (syalʔ‑, “to lead; to go or do first; to open way”).

Oldest attested scripts include oracle and bronze, followed by chu, qin, seal, and regular scripts. The character denotes things that are first, preceding, or ahead in time or order, as well as things that are primary or temporary. It is also used as a respectful term for a deceased elder.

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

「先」是一個會意字，由「止」（腳）與「儿」（人）兩個部分組成，用以表示向前行走。根據《說文解字》的記載，這個字的意思是「前進也」，其字形結構從「儿」從「之」，所有屬於「先」範疇的字皆從「先」。

在意義方面，「先」指涉時間或次序在前的狀態，與「後」相對，也可用於表示首要、暫時，或是作為對已故尊長的尊稱。在語言學研究上，此字屬於漢藏語系，與藏語的 བསེལ (bsel，意為「在危險路徑上保護；護送」) 以及 Chepang 語的 स्यालःसा (syalʔ‑，意為「領導；先行；開路」) 被認為是同源詞。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • ideaChinese儿 “standing person”

Related: Tibetan བསེལ, Chepang स्यालःसा

Words built on it: 先生, 洗, 首先, 事先

Wiktionary etymology text

Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 止 (“foot”) + 儿 (“person”) – to go forward.

Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Tibetan བསེལ (bsel, “to protect (on a dangerous path); to escort”), Chepang स्यालःसा (syalʔ‑, “to lead; to go or do first; to open way”) (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Meanings

character
  1. first; ahead of time; before; beforehand
  2. first; preceding; prior
  3. for the time being; for the moment
  4. earlier on; before; at first
  5. ancient
  6. deceased; late

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

先：前進也。从儿从之。凡先之屬皆从先。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 時間或次序在前的。與「後」相對。 例：先發後至、爭先恐後、先走一步
  2. 首要的。 例：先務
  3. 暫時。 例：你先不要慌，我們慢慢想辦法來解決。
  4. 尊稱已去世的尊長。 例：先父、先人、先聖先賢

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 先 was written 字形演變

  1. 先 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 先 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 先 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 先 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 先 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 先 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 先