Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

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

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

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 前
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Originally 歬, an ideogrammic compound (會意) : 止 ‎(“foot”) + 舟 ‎(“boat”) – a foot on a boat moving forward. Alternatively, 舟 represents a shoe (cf. Shuowen 履: 舟象履形) — a foot with a shoe on to walk forward. In the current form, 止 is simplified to 䒑 and 舟 to 月. The current form with an additional 刀 (“knife”) is the original form of 剪 (OC *ʔslenʔ, “to cut”).

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Definitions

前

1. front

   Antonyms: 後／后 (hòu)

2. past
3. former
4. preceding
5. forward
6. future
7. first
8. battlefront

Compounds

Etymology 2

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. in front
2. before

Readings

• Goon: ぜん (zen)
• Kan’on: せん (sen) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’yōon: ぜ (ze) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kun: まえ (mae), さき (saki) (non-Jōyō reading)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese as a compound of 目 ‎(ma, “eye”) +‎ 方 ‎(he, “direction, -wards”).^[1][2]

/mape/ > /maɸe/ > /mawe/ > /mae/

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) ま​え [máꜜè] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ma̠e̞]

Noun

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

1. the front
2. the past

Suffix

前 ‎(hiragana まえ, romaji -mae)

1. a portion, an amount

   六人 (ろくにん)前 (まえ)の御膳 (ごぜん)

   rokunin-mae no gozen

   a banquet for six people

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Cognate with 崎 ‎(saki, “a (geographical) point, where the land sticks out into the water”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) さき [sàkí] (Heiban - [0])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠kʲi]

Noun

前 ‎(hiragana さき, romaji saki)

1. Alternative spelling of 先 the tip of something; ahead, in front; before, earlier, the past; afterwards, the future; the destination of a motion or action

Usage notes

This sense is much more commonly spelled 先. See that entry for more details.

Etymology 3

From Middle Chinese 前 ‎(dzen). Compare modern Mandarin 前 ‎(qián).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) ぜ​ん [zéꜜǹ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [zẽ̞ɴ]

Counter

前 ‎(hiragana ぜん, romaji -zen)

1. counter for irregularly shaped objects such as desks, armrests, and serving trays
2. counter for kami and shrines

Prefix

前 ‎(hiragana ぜん, romaji zen-)

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

Etymology 4

Contraction of 御前 (ごぜ) ‎(goze), itself a contraction of 御前 (ごぜん) ‎(gozen), an honorific form of address.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kan'yōyomi
• IPA^(key): [ze̞]

Suffix

前 ‎(hiragana ぜ, romaji -ze)

1. (rare) an honorific suffix added to a noun denoting a person

   尼 (あま)前 (ぜ)

   ama-ze

   (honorable) nun

References

1. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 4 5 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. 1 2 3 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
4. ↑ 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0

Korean

Hanja

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

1. front (direction)
2. before

Vietnamese

Han character

前 (tiền, tèn)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.