先

先 U+5148, 先 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5148 ← 兇 [U+5147] CJK Unified Ideographs 光 → [U+5149]

Stroke order

先 (Kangxi radical 10, 儿+4, 6 strokes, cangjie input 竹土竹山 (HGHU), four-corner 2421₁, composition ⿱𠂒儿)

• 侁, 冼, 姺, 㧥, 洗, 㭠, 㱡, 烍, 珗, 䊁, 䚚, 詵 (诜), 跣, 酰, 銑 (铣), 駪
• 选, 毨, 兟, 䢾, 㪇, 㰫, 宪, 筅, 㾌

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 124, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1349
• Dae Jaweon: page 260, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 267, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5148

simp. and trad.		先

Ideogrammic compound (會意 / 会意): 止 (“foot”) + 儿 (“person”) – to go forward.

Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Tibetan བསེལ (bsel, “to protect (on a dangerous path); to escort”), Chepang स्‍यालःसा (syalʔ‑, “to lead; to go or do first; to open way”) (Schuessler, 2007).

先

1. first; ahead of time; before; beforehand

   我要先去洗手間。 [MSC, trad.]
   我要先去洗手间。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ yào xiān qù xǐshǒujiān. [Pinyin]

   I need to go to the bathroom first.

   他比我先畢業。／他比我先毕业。  ―  Tā bǐ wǒ xiān bìyè.  ―  He graduated earlier than me.

   我要去廁所先。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   我要去厕所先。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngo⁵ jiu³ heoi³ ci³ so² sin¹. [Jyutping]

   I need to go to the bathroom first.

   唔好去住先。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   m⁴ hou² heoi³ zyu⁶ sin¹. [Jyutping]

   (For now) don't go.

2. first; preceding; prior

   Antonym: 後 / 后 (hòu)

   先聲／先声  ―  xiānshēng  ―  herald; sign

   領先／领先  ―  lǐngxiān  ―  to be in the lead

   先兩日／先两日 [Cantonese]  ―  sin¹ loeng⁵ jat⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  day before yesterday; two days ago

3. for the time being; for the moment
4. (colloquial) earlier on; before; at first
5. ancient
6. deceased; late

   先父  ―  xiānfù  ―  deceased father

7. ancestor; forefather

   祖先  ―  zǔxiān  ―  ancestor

8. thing of utmost importance
9. short for 先生 (xiānshēng)
10. short for 先手 (xiānshǒu)
11. (Cantonese) only then

    佢瞓到而家先瞓醒覺。 [Cantonese, trad.]
    佢𰥛到而家先𰥛醒觉。 [Cantonese, simp.]

    keoi⁵ fan³ dou³ ji⁴ gaa¹ sin¹ fan³ seng² gaau³. [Jyutping]

    He slept so long that he only woke up just now.

    • 2020, “南昌街王子 [The Prince Near You]”, 黃偉文 [Wyman Wong] (lyrics)‎^[2]performed by 薛凱琪 [Fiona Sit]:

      這先叫成長嗎 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
      这先叫成长吗 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

      ze² sin¹ giu³ sing⁴ zoeng² maa³ [Jyutping]

      Only then would this be called growing?

12. (Cantonese) first off

    你買咗未先？ [Cantonese, trad.]
    你买咗未先？ [Cantonese, simp.]

    nei⁵ maai⁵ zo² mei⁶ sin¹? [Jyutping]

    First off, have you even bought it yet?

13. (Cantonese) Used to emphasize that something is/is not.

    我先唔同佢講。 [Cantonese, trad.]
    我先唔同佢讲。 [Cantonese, simp.]

    ngo⁵ sin¹ m⁴ tung⁴ keoi⁵ gong². [Jyutping]

    There's no way I'm going to tell them. / No, I am not going to tell them. / They are the last person I would tell.

    呢啲先係唱歌。 [Cantonese, trad.]
    呢啲先系唱歌。 [Cantonese, simp.]

    ni¹ di¹ sin¹ hai⁶ coeng³ go¹. [Jyutping]

    This is true singing.

    你先食一碗飯點會夠！ [Cantonese, trad.]
    你先食一碗饭点会够！ [Cantonese, simp.]

    nei⁵ sin¹ sik⁶ jat¹ wun² faan⁶ dim² wui⁵ gau³! [Jyutping]

    How can you be full eating only one bowl of rice?

14. a surname

• (first; beforehand): In Standard Mandarin, 先 comes before the verb; in Cantonese, Teochew and Southeast Asian Mandarin, 先 comes after the verb (and elements such as verb aspect and verb object).

• (first): 首先 (shǒuxiān), 最先 (zuìxiān), 第一 (dì-yī)
• (only then):

• (Min Nan) “先”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

先 (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese)

1. to guide; to initiate
2. to be earlier
3. to surpass
4. originally
5. to introduce
6. term of address for one's elder brother's wife

先

1. only used in 先馬／先马

• “先”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[3], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kun: さき (saki, 先, Jōyō)、さきんじる (sakinjiru, 先んじる)、まず (mazu, 先ず)

Kanji in this term
先
さき Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
前 尖

From Old Japanese,^[1][2] from Proto-Japonic *saki. Cognate with 崎 (saki, “a (geographical) point, where the land sticks out into the water”).^[3]

• (Tokyo) さき [sàkí] (Heiban – [0])^[2][4][5]
• (Tokyo) さき [sáꜜkì] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2] (only for the "before" senses)
• IPA^(key): [sa̠kʲi]

先(さき) • (saki) 

1. before, previous

   Synonym: 先に (saki ni, “adverb”)

   どっちが先(さき)か。

   Dotchi ga saki ka.

   Which one was first?

2. end, tip

   矢(や)の先(さき)

   ya no saki

   tip of an arrow

3. earlier, the past
4. afterwards, the future
5. the destination of a motion or action

   送信(そうしん)先(さき)

   sōshin-saki

   recipient

   バイト先(さき)

   baito-saki

   workplace (of a part-time job)

   行(ゆ)き先(さき)不明(ふめい)

   yuki-saki fumei

   whereabouts unknown

   お帰(かえ)り先(さき)

   o-kaeri-saki

   place of return

6. sequel
7. ahead, in front

   その先(さき)は森(もり)の奥(おく)。

   Sono saki wa mori no oku.

   What lies beyond there is the heart of the forest.

• 先(さき)を越(こ)す (sakiokosu)

Kanji in this term
先
さき > さっき Grade: 1
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 先 – see the following entry.

【さっき】 [adverb] (colloquial) synonym of 先ほど (sakihodo) [adverb] a little time ago [adverb] some time ago [adverb] just now

(This term, 先, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Kanji in this term
先
せん Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 先 (MC sen|senH).

• (Tokyo) せん [séꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [sẽ̞ɴ]

先(せん) • (sen) 

1. before, previous

• “先”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[4] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

From Middle Chinese 先 (MC sen).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [sʰʌ̹n]
• Phonetic hangul: [선]

先 (eumhun 먼저 선 (meonjeo seon))

1. Hanja form^? of 선 (“first; foremost”).
2. Hanja form^? of 선 (“former; previous”).

Related to Middle Chinese 洗 (MC sejX).

先 (eumhun 전구(前驅) 세)

1. (archaic) hanja form^? of 세 (“to lead; to guide”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [5]

先: Hán Việt readings: tiên (蘇(tô)前(tiền)切(thiết))^{[1][2][3][4][5]}, tiến^[5]
先: Nôm readings: tiên^{[1][2][3][4][6]}, tên^[1], ten^[3], teng^[3]

1. chữ Hán form of tiên (“first; prior; before”)