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敢為人先

简敢为人先 · 繁敢為人先

Mandarin · pinyin gǎn wéi rén xiān

to dare to be first
to pioneer (idiom)

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Characters in this entry

敢: gǎn · to dare, venture; bold, brave
為: Look up this written character
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
先: xiān · first, former, previous
为: wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–1 · gan3 wei2 ren2 xian1

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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.

敢為人先 · find source passages ↗ · 敢为人先 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to have the courage to do what others have not done; to have the courage to take the lead

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

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