Emaki · all 1,500 words

先輩

せんぱい

senior (at work, school, etc.)

Mnemonic

They joined a year before you and that never stops counting, so the pie goes up the table to them first. Send pie せんぱい: せんぱい.

Worth knowing

後輩 こうはい is the other end, anyone who joined after you. The pair runs your whole working life.

Built from

ahead, previous
A figure striding out in front, on 儿 legs.
fellow, colleague
車 a cart at the bottom. A row of them, and whoever came before you in the line.

Words sharing these kanji

teacher before, ahead some time ago the other day, a few days ago

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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.