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前無古人

简前无古人 · 繁前無古人

Mandarin · pinyin qián wú gǔ rén

(idiom) unprecedented
unheard of

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Characters in this entry

前: qián · in front, forward; preceding
無: Look up this written character
古: gǔ · old, classic, ancient
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
无: wú · negative, no, not; Kangxi radical 71

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

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–2 · qian2 wu2 gu3 ren2

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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.

前無古人 · find source passages ↗ · 前无古人 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cin4 mou4 gu2 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 前無古人. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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.

phrase

(idiomatic) unprecedented; unique

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

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