Chinese symbol for “preceding”
前面
qián miàn
ahead; in front; preceding; above
The closest CC-CEDICT match for preceding is 前面 (qián miàn), defined as: ahead; in front; preceding; above; also pr. [qian2 mian5].
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 “preceding”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 弁 | biàn | (old) cap (garment); military officer of low rank (in former times) |
| 攃 | sà | preceding |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 前面.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 目前 | mù qián | at the present time; currently |
| 之前 | zhī qián | before; prior to |
| 以前 | yǐ qián | before; formerly |
| 前往 | qián wǎng | to leave for; to proceed towards; to go to |
| 面前 | miàn qián | in front of; facing |
| 当前 (當前) | dāng qián | the present time; to be faced with |
| 方面 | fāng miàn | respect; aspect |
| 里面 (裏面) | lǐ miàn | variant of 里面 (lǐ miàn) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “preceding”.
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.