What does 前 mean in Chinese?

前 (qián) means "front, before" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 前?

前 is written with 9 strokes, starting from the 刂 (knife) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 前?

The radical of 前 is 刂 (knife, Kangxi radical #18). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 到, 别.

How many strokes does 前 have?

The Chinese character 前 has 9 strokes.

What HSK level is 前?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 前 is a character to recognise at HSK 1.

前 (qián): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

前

qián

front, before

HSK 1 character 9 strokes Radical: 刂 (knife)

Quick Answer

前 (qián) means "front, before" with 9 strokes, radical 刂 (knife), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 前 →Animated stroke-order for 前 →

Pronunciation

qián

Meaning

Primary: front

Other meanings:

before

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

In oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions the ancestor of 前 was written as 歬, showing a foot 止 above a boat 舟, depicting a person standing on a boat moving forward. The image of forward motion on water gave rise to the meaning ahead or in front. The modern top component 䒑 is a stylised descendant of the foot 止.

Form evolution

Bronze and seal forms keep the foot-on-boat composition clearly visible. During the clerical-script reform the 舟 element was regularised into 月-like 肉, and 止 flattened into the two strokes now written as 䒑. A knife radical 刂 was added on the right, originally marking a separate verb meaning to cut or trim, which later merged graphically into the same character. The modern 前 thus contains three historical layers: foot, boat, and knife.

How the meaning evolved

The original verbal sense of moving forward quickly specialised into the spatial and temporal sense of front or before. Modern Mandarin uses 前 for physical front (前面), earlier time (以前, 前天), and ordinal precedence (前三名). The cutting sense survives only in the etymology; 剪 (to cut) now carries that meaning independently.

Cultural note

The idiom 勇往直前 (press bravely onward) preserves the ancient verbal sense of forward motion rather than the static spatial meaning. Learners who only know 前 as front often miss that it was originally a verb of movement.

Mnemonic

A boat cuts forward under moonlight — front

Decomposition

前=丷component+月component+刂radical

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	qián
Meanings	front, before
Stroke count	9 strokes
Radical	刂 (#18: knife)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1
Frequency	#193 most common

Example sentences

以前我住在这里。
Yǐqián wǒ zhù zài zhèlǐ.
I used to live here.
From 前 (HSK 1)
前面有商店。
Qiánmiàn yǒu shāngdiàn.
There's a store ahead.
From 前面 (HSK 2)
我以前住在这里。
Wǒ yǐqián zhù zài zhèlǐ.
I used to live here.
From 以前 (HSK 3)

Words containing 前

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
前	qián	front, before	HSK 1
前面	qiánmiàn	front	HSK 2
以前	yǐqián	before	HSK 3
提前	tíqián	in advance	HSK 4
从前	cóngqián	before	HSK 5
目前	mùqián	at present	HSK 4
前途	qiántú	future	HSK 5
当前	dāngqián	current, present	HSK 5
跟前	gēnqián	in front of, close to	HSK 6