先
Meaning in Englishahead / previous / destination
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
先 (saki) means something that comes before another in position or time; it labels a point, person, or moment that leads or precedes others and functions both as an independent noun and as a component in compounds to mark precedence.
Main meanings
- 1. Tip or point of an object — refers to the end or leading edge of things.
- 2. Destination — used to indicate where someone is headed or the place ahead.
- 3. Seniority or predecessor — marks someone who has gone before in rank or experience.
- 4. A short while earlier — appears in expressions that mean 'a moment ago' or 'earlier today'.
- 5. Marker in compounds that gives the sense of 'former', 'previous', or 'leading'.
How to use it
Appears across casual and formal registers: as a noun to indicate who or what goes first, inside adverbial constructions (e.g., saki + particle) to mark prior actions, and widely in compounds to denote previous, leading, or senior relationships; used in spoken instructions, temporal references, and honorific or familial terms.
Variants and close terms
- 前 (まえ, mae) — in front, before
- 後 (うしろ, ushiro) — behind, after (antonym)
- 先頭 (せんとう, sentō) — head, vanguard
- 先程 (さきほど, sakihodo) — a little while ago
Composition
The single kanji 先 is historically a pictograph: graphic elements suggest a person and a leading mark (often interpreted as hair or a forward motion). Those elements combine to convey the idea of someone or something that goes in front, which is why the character functions alone and as a building block in compounds denoting precedence.
Origin
Adopted from Classical Chinese characters during the period when kanji entered Japanese writing (roughly from the 5th–8th centuries), the character became established in early Japanese literature and administrative texts and later formed many common compounds expressing temporal and positional relations.
Word class
noun, adverbial noun, prefix (名詞、副詞的名詞、接頭辞)