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前沿

Mandarin · pinyin qián yán

(military) forward position
frontier; cutting-edge; forefront

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Characters in this entry

前: qián · in front, forward; preceding
沿: yán · follow a course, go along

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · qian2 yan2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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.

noun

front part; front section
(military or figuratively) front line; forefront; forward position; leading position

adj

state-of-the-art; cutting-edge; innovative

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

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