Chinese word dictionary

惩前毖后

chéng qián bì hòu · lit. to punish those before to prevent those after (idiom); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent them happening again

Practice word

Word information

Simplified惩前毖后

Traditional懲前毖後

Pinyinchéng qián bì hòu

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

惩chéng

to discipline, to punish, to reprimand, to warn

前qián

in front, forward; former, preceding

毖bì

caution; to guard against, to take care

后hòu

after; behind, rear; descendants

How to learn 惩前毖后

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

后hòu

back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post-; empress; queen; (archaic) monarch; ruler; surname Hou

前qián

front; forward; ahead; first; top (followed by a number); future; ago; before; BC (e.g. 前293年); former; formerly

后面hòumiàn

the back; the rear; the last bit; behind; near the end; at the back; later; afterwards

前面qiánmiàn

ahead; in front; preceding; above; also pr. [qian2 mian5]

后来hòulái

afterwards; later; newly arrived

后年hòunián

the year after next