前

前 (radical 18, 刀+7, 9 strokes, cangjie input 廿月中弓 (TBLN), four-corner 8022₁, composition ⿱䒑刖)

• 揃, 箭, 剪, 煎, 椾, 偂, 媊, 葥, 翦, 湔, 鎆

• KangXi: page 140, character 15
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2011
• Dae Jaweon: page 318, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 248, character 4
• Unihan data for U+524D

Historical forms of the character 前
Western Zhou	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Originally 歬, an ideogrammic compound (會意) : 止 (“foot”) + 舟 (“boat”) – a foot on a boat moving forward. Alternatively, 舟 represents a shoe (cf. Shuowen 履: 舟象履形) — a foot with a shoe on to walk forward. In the current form, 止 is simplified to 䒑 and 舟 to 月. The current form with an additional 刀 (“knife”) is the original form of 剪 (OC *ʔslenʔ, “to cut”).

Etymology not clear (Schuessler, 2007).

前

1. front; forepart

   Antonyms: 後／后 (hòu)

2. past
3. former; previous; last
4. preceding
5. future; time ahead
6. first; top
7. battlefront
8. to move forward
9. A surname​.

• “Entry #4715”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. in front
2. before

• Go-on: ぜん (zen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せん (sen)
• Kan’yō-on: ぜ (ze)
• Kun: まえ (mae, 前, Jōyō)^{←まへ (mafe, historical)}; さき (saki, 前)

From Old Japanese as a compound of 目 (ma, “eye”) +‎ 方 (pe, “direction, -wards”).[1][2]

/mape/ → /maɸe/ → /mawe/ → /maje/ → /mae/

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ま​え [máꜜè] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3][4]
  • IPA^(key): [ma̠e̞]

前 (hiragana まえ, rōmaji mae, historical hiragana まへ)

1. the front

   前 (まえ)へ進 (すす)む

   mae e susumu

   to advance forwards

   (literally, “to advance towards the front”)

   Antonym: 後ろ (ushiro)

2. the past

   前 (まえ)から気 (き)になってたんだけど […]

   mae kara ki ni natteta n da kedo […]

   I've been thinking about it for a while, but […]

   ずっと前 (まえ)からそう思 (おも)ってた

   zutto mae kara sō omotteta

   I've thought that for ages

   (literally, “I've been thinking that way since forever ago”)

   前 (まえ)にも言 (い)ったように

   mae ni mo itta yō ni

   as I've said before

   (literally, “just as I have said in the past”)

   Antonym: 後 (ato)

3. previous

   前 (まえ)の記事 (きじ)

   mae no kiji

   previous entries

   Antonym: 次 (tsugi)

前 (hiragana まえ, rōmaji -mae)

1. a portion, an amount

   六人 (ろくにん)前 (まえ)の御膳 (ごぜん)

   rokunin-mae no gozen

   a banquet for six people

See the etymology of the main entry.

前 (hiragana さき, rōmaji saki)

1. Alternative spelling of 先

From Middle Chinese 前 (dzen). Compare modern Mandarin 前 (qián).

• On’yomi: Goon
  • (Tokyo) ぜ​ん [zéꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [d͡zẽ̞ɴ]

前 (hiragana ぜん, rōmaji -zen)

1. counter for irregularly shaped objects such as desks, armrests, and serving trays
2. counter for kami and shrines

前 (hiragana ぜん, rōmaji zen-)

1. the last, the previous
2. pre- (of an era)

Contraction of 御 (ご)前 (ぜ) (goze), itself a contraction of 御前 (ごぜん) (gozen), an honorific form of address.[1][2]

• Kan’yōyomi
  • IPA^(key): [d͡ze̞]

前 (hiragana ぜ, rōmaji -ze)

1. (rare) an honorific suffix added to a noun denoting a person

   尼 (あま)前 (ぜ)

   ama-ze

   (honorable) nun

前 • (jeon) (hangeul 전, revised jeon, McCune–Reischauer chŏn)

1. front (direction)
2. before

前 (tiền, tèn)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.