先
Meaning
- beforehand; first; earlier
- at first; originally
- for the time being; for now
Example sentence
先到先得。
First come, first serve.
The character 先
先 is a foot drawn over a person: one step ahead. 先…再… puts two actions in order, 首先 opens a list, 事先 is beforehand, and 先生 — born earlier — is the polite word for a man.