Chinese word dictionary

瞻前顾后

zhān qián gù hòu · lit. to look forward and back (idiom); fig. to consider carefully; to weigh the pros and cons; fig. to be overcautious and indecisive

Practice word

Word information

Simplified瞻前顾后

Traditional瞻前顧後

Pinyinzhān qián gù 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.

瞻zhān

to look; to look out for; to respect

前qián

in front, forward; former, preceding

顾gù

to look back; to look at; to look after

后hòu

after; behind, rear; descendants

How to learn 瞻前顾后

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