Chinese symbol for “priority”
先后
xiān hòu
Traditional: 先後
early or late; first and last; priority; in succession; one after another
The closest CC-CEDICT match for priority is 先后 (xiān hòu), defined as: early or late; first and last; priority; in succession; one after another.
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “priority”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缓急 (緩急) | huǎn jí | priority; whether sth is urgent |
| 重心 | zhòng xīn | focus; emphasis; priority; (physics) center of gravity |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 先后.
| 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) |
| 优先 (優先) | yōu xiān | to have priority; to take precedence |
| 领先 (領先) | lǐng xiān | to lead; to be in front |
| 最后 (最後) | zuì hòu | final; last; ultimate; finally; in the end |
| 之后 (之後) | zhī hòu | after; behind; (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then |
| 然后 (然後) | rán hòu | then; after that; afterwards |
See also: Japanese symbol for “priority”.
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.