Chinese word dictionary

最先

zuì xiān · (the) very first

Practice word

Word information

Simplified最先

Traditional最先

Pinyinzuì xiān

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.

最zuì

most, extremely, exceedingly; superlative

先xiān

first, former, previous

How to learn 最先

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.

先生xiānsheng

teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.); husband; (dialect) doctor; CL:位[wei4]

最zuì

(before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree; (the) most ...; -est; (after 之[zhi1]) best or most extreme example (e.g. 世界之最[shi4 jie4 zhi1 zui4] "the greatest in the world"); old variant of 最[zui4]; variant of 最[zui4]

先xiān

beforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now; (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself)

最好zuìhǎo

best; had better ...; it would be best to ...

最后zuìhòu

final; last; ultimate; finally; in the end