Meaning & readings
in front, before
On’yomi ゼン
Kun’yomi まえ、-まえ
Nanori さき、さと、まい
Origin
The kanji 前 appears to combine two visual ideas: the left side suggests a person or figure, while the right side represents movement or going forward. Together, these components create the image of someone moving ahead or positioned in front. Over time, this picture of forward movement came to represent the general concepts of "in front" and "before" in both space and time. The character's shape essentially draws a picture of what it means—something or someone ahead in position or sequence.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (前).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 18
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #27 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+0524D