首先

Character by character

• 首shǒu9 strokesHSK 3head; first; leader, chief; a poem; Kangxi radical 185
• 先xiān6 strokesHSK 1first, former, previous

Each character links to its stroke order page with a tracing and a writing exercise.

Words with the same characters

These words share at least one character with 首先. Reading them together is how the character starts to stick — the same characters in a different context.

• 先xiānHSK 1

  early; prior; former; in advance; first

• 先生xiān shengHSK 1

  teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.); husband; (dialect) doctor

• 首shǒuHSK 4

  head; chief; first (occasion, thing etc); classifier for poems, songs etc

• 领先lǐng xiānHSK 3

  to lead; to be in front

• 先进xiān jìnHSK 3

  advanced (technology); to advance

• 首席shǒu xíHSK 6

  chief (representative, correspondent etc)

• 首都shǒu dūHSK 3

  capital (city)

• 优先yōu xiānHSK 5

  to have priority; to take precedence

• 事先shì xiānHSK 4

  in advance; before the event; beforehand; prior

• 首相shǒu xiàngHSK 6

  prime minister (of Japan or UK etc)

• 首批shǒu pīHSK 7

  first batch

• 首要shǒu yàoHSK 7

  the most important; of chief importance

• 原先yuán xiānHSK 5

  originally; original; former

• 先前xiān qiánHSK 5

  before; previously

• 元首yuán shǒuHSK 7

  head of state

• 首饰shǒu shìHSK 7

  jewelry; head ornament

• 先后xiān hòuHSK 5

  early or late; priority; in succession; one after another

• 预先yù xiānHSK 7

  beforehand; in advance

• 祖先zǔ xiānHSK 7

  ancestors; forebears; (biology) ancestral species; ancient species from which present-day species evolved

• 首脑shǒu nǎoHSK 6

  head (of state); summit (meeting); leader

• 先锋xiān fēngHSK 6

  vanguard; pioneer; avant-garde

• 率先shuài xiānHSK 4

  to take the lead; to show initiative

• 回首huí shǒuHSK 7

  to turn around; to look back; (fig.) to recall the past

• 首府shǒu fǔHSK 7

  capital city of an autonomous region