以前

いぜん

before, ago

Mnemonic

The marker that fixes a boundary, and everything in front of it. He lived here once, on the far side of that line, and the Zen ぜん monk in the shop still remembers him: いぜん.

Worth knowing

Same 以 as 以上 and 以外. 以前 is before some point; 前まえ on its own is simply ago.

Built from

以

by means of, from

A person with a mark set beside them, 'starting from here', used to fix a boundary.

前

front, before

Horns over 月 moon over 刂 knife. The part that goes out in front.

Words sharing these kanji

以上 ... or more, beyond 以外 except for 以来 since 名前 name 前 front, before 当たり前 of course, obvious

This is one of 1,500 words in Emaki, a free spaced repetition trainer with a written mnemonic on every card.

Study 以前 in Emaki

Free, no account needed. Your progress stays in your browser.

Emaki is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Kaishi 1.5k or its authors. The word, reading and meaning come from the Kaishi 1.5k deck, used with their permission. The mnemonic, the note and the kanji breakdown are original work, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.