Chinese symbol for “beforehand”
先
xiān
beforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now; (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for beforehand is 先 (xiān), defined as: beforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now; (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “beforehand”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 预先 (預先) | yù xiān | beforehand; in advance |
| 之前 | zhī qián | before; prior to |
| 先期 | xiān qī | the time before a certain date; in advance; beforehand; premature; initial period |
| 事先 | shì xiān | in advance; before the event |
| 预 (預) | yù | to advance; in advance |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 先.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 先生 | xiān sheng | teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.) |
| 首先 | shǒu xiān | first of all; in the first place |
| 先进 (先進) | xiān jìn | sophisticated; advanced (technology etc); meritorious; exemplary (deeds etc) |
| 先后 (先後) | xiān hòu | early or late; first and last; priority; in succession; one after another |
| 优先 (優先) | yōu xiān | to have priority; to take precedence |
| 领先 (領先) | lǐng xiān | to lead; to be in front |
See also: Japanese symbol for “beforehand”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.