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其先

Mandarin · pinyin qí xiān

previously
before that
up to then

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Characters in this entry

其: qí · his, her, its, their; that
先: xiān · first, former, previous

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–1 · qi2 xian1

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adv

(literary) previously; in the past; before

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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