先 - Mandarin word #260

先

xiān

Traditional: 先

HSK 2

#260 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

first, in advance, earlier

Stroke order

先

。

You go first.

，。

Eat first, then talk.

。

I'll head back first.

，。

You go first, I'll be right there.

洗xǐ。

Wash your hands before eating.

先 (xiān) means first, in advance, earlier. It is used as a adverb in everyday Mandarin speech.

必须

must, have to

开始

to begin, to start, beginning

然后

then, after that, afterwards

一定

certainly, definitely, must

之前

before, prior to

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 先.

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

This word is part of lesson 6.