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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

前

qián
front; forepart
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 1
  • TOCFL 5
  • radical 刀
  • 9 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Originally 歬, an ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 止 (“foot”) + 舟 (“boat”) – a foot on a boat moving forward.

In the current form, 止 is simplified to 䒑 and 舟 to 月. The current form with an additional 刀 (“knife”) (𠝣 > 𣦃 > 前) is the original form of 剪 (OC *ʔslenʔ, “to cut”).

Unrelated to 俞.

Unknown (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese止 “foot”
  • ideaChinese舟 “boat (Classifier: 葉／叶; 艘; 條／条; 隻／只)”

Words built on it: 以前, 前年, 目前, 面前, 之前, 前天, 前往, 提前, 前面, 眼前, 前途, 前提

Meanings

character
  1. front; forepart
  2. ago; before
  3. past; previous; former; earlier
  4. top; foremost; leading
  5. future; time ahead
  6. to move forward

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

前：不行而進謂之歬。从止在舟上。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 位置在正面或靠近開頭的。與「後」相對。 例：前門、前方、面前　◎
  2. 時間或次序較早的。與「後」相對。 例：前天、前三名、史無前例
  3. 已成為歷史的。 例：前清、前蘇聯、前亞東關係協會
  4. 前任的簡稱。 例：前妻、前總理
  5. 未來的。 例：前程、前途、前景看好
  6. 向正面行進。 例：勇往直前、畏縮不前

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

How 前 was written 字形演變

  1. 前 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 前 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 前 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 前 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 前 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

  • 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: 前