原 yuán
- Strokes
- 10
- Radical
- 厂 — cliff
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
原先
yuánxiān
formerly; originally
Characters in this word
先 xiān
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 儿 — son, child
- Made of
- 𠂒 small 儿 son, child
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 原先我住这。 Yuánxiān wǒ zhù zhè. I used to live here.
- 原先他很忙。 Yuánxiān tā hěn máng. He was very busy before.
- 这里原先很旧。 Zhèlǐ yuánxiān hěn jiù. This place used to be very old.