Japanese symbol for “prior”
事前
じぜん
Romaji: jizen
prior; beforehand; in advance; before the fact
In Japanese, prior is 事前, read じぜん (jizen).
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.
Meanings
- adj-no prior; beforehand; in advance; before the fact; ex ante
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “prior”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 前 | まえ mae | before; earlier; previously |
| 在りし | ありし arishi | prior; past; old |
| 先 | さき saki | previous; prior; former |
| 修院長 | しゅういんちょう shuuinchou | prelate; prior; abbot |
| 修道院長 | しゅうどういんちょう shuudouinchou | head of a monastic institution; abbot; prior |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 仕事 | しごと shigoto | work; job; labor |
| 事件 | じけん jiken | event; affair; incident |
| 記事 | きじ kiji | article; news story; report |
| 事業 | じぎょう jigyou | business; enterprise; venture |
| 事故 | じこ jiko | accident; incident; trouble |
| 事実 | じじつ jijitsu | fact; truth; reality |
| 名前 | なまえ namae | name |
| 以前 | いぜん izen | before; prior to; ago |
See also: Chinese symbol for “prior”.
Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.