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Kanji Information Sheet for 先 ( 
PDF version )
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| English: before ahead previous future precedence | On-Yomi: セン | Kun-Yomi: さき ま.ず ぽん |
Bushu (Radical) Info: 儿 (にんにょう) – human legs
Henshall Mnemonic: those dead people preceded us in life
Levels: JLPT N5 | JLPT 4 (old) | Grade 1
Frequency: #173 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers
Frequency: #173 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers
Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:
Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.
JLPT N5 Words
- 先週 [せんしゅう]
(n-adv,n-t) last week; the week before [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先生 [せんせい]
(n) teacher; master; doctor [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先 [さき]
(adj-no,n,n-suf,pref) (1) previous; prior; former; (2) point (e.g. pencil); tip; end; nozzle; head (of a line); (3) destination; (4) the first priority; the future; objective; sequel; remainder; the other party [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先月 [せんげつ]
(n-adv,n-t) last month [K] [D] [Jisho]
JLPT N4 Words
- 先輩 [せんぱい]
(n) senior (at work or school); superior; elder; older graduate; progenitor; old-timer [K] [D] [Jisho]
JLPT N3 Words
- 先日 [せんじつ]
(n-adv,n-t) the other day; a few days ago [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先ず [まず]
(adv) (1) first (of all); to start with; about; almost; anyway; well; now; (2) hardly (with neg. verb) [K] [D] [Jisho]
JLPT N2 Words
- 先祖 [せんぞ]
(n) ancestor [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先端 [せんたん]
(n) pointed end; tip; fine point; spearhead; cusp; vanguard; advanced; leading edge [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先程 [さきほど]
(n-adv,n-t) some time ago [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先頭 [せんとう]
(n) head; lead; vanguard; first [K] [D] [Jisho] - 真っ先 [まっさき]
(n) the head; the foremost; beginning [K] [D] [Jisho] - 祖先 [そせん]
(n) ancestor [K] [D] [Jisho]
JLPT N1 Words
- 先代 [せんだい]
(n) family predecessor; previous age; previous generation [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先着 [せんちゃく]
(n) first arrival [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先天的 [せんてんてき]
(adj-na,n) a priori; inborn; innate; inherent; congenital; hereditary [K] [D] [Jisho] - 優先 [ゆうせん]
(n,vs) preference; priority [K] [D] [Jisho] - 勤め先 [つとめさき]
(n) place of work [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先だって [せんだって]
(n-adv,n-t) recently; the other day [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先に [さきに]
(adv,n) before; earlier than; ahead; beyond; away; previously; recently [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先行 [せんこう]
(n,vs) preceding; going first [K] [D] [Jisho]
Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT
- 小手先 [こてさき]
(n) (superficial) cleverness [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先取 [せんしゅ]
(n,vs) earning the first (runs); preoccupation [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先取り [さきどり]
(n,vs) receiving in advance; taking before others [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先手 [せんて]
(n) (1) the first move; forestalling; initiative; (2) black player (shogi) [K] [D] [Jisho] - 春先 [はるさき]
(n-adv,n-t) beginning of spring [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先住 [せんじゅう]
(n) previous priest or resident [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先進 [せんしん]
(n) seniority; advance; leadership [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先進国 [せんしんこく]
(n) advanced (developed) country; advanced nations [K] [D] [Jisho] - 最先端 [さいせんたん]
(adj-no,n) ultra-fine [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先人 [せんじん]
(n) predecessor; pioneer; ancestor [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先陣 [せんじん]
(n) vanguard; advance guard [K] [D] [Jisho] - 指先 [ゆびさき]
(n) fingertip [K] [D] [Jisho] - 矛先 [ほこさき]
(n) point of spear; aim of attack; force of argument [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先制 [せんせい]
(n,vs) preempt; head-start (of several runs) (baseball) [K] [D] [Jisho] - 送り先 [おくりさき]
(n) forwarding address [K] [D] [Jisho] - ペン先 [ペンさき]
(n) pen nibs [K] [D] [Jisho] - 爪先 [つまさき]
(n) tiptoe [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先送り [さきおくり]
(n) postpone [K] [D] [Jisho] - 率先 [そっせん]
(n) taking the initiative [K] [D] [Jisho] - 軒先 [のきさき]
(n) edge of the eaves; house frontage [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先導 [せんどう]
(n) guidance; leadership [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先入観 [せんにゅうかん]
(n) preconception; prejudice; preoccupation [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先発 [せんぱつ]
(n,vs) forerunner; advance party; going on ahead [K] [D] [Jisho] - 先般 [せんぱん]
(n-adv,n-t) some time ago; the other day [K] [D] [Jisho] - 優先的 [ゆうせんてき]
(adj-na) preferential [K] [D] [Jisho]
Acknowledgments
The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.
The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.
Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.
The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.
If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.