TongTong
Sign in

眼前 (yǎn qián) — before one's eyes; right in front of one; at present; now; the current moment

Definition

眼前 has two senses: 'right in front of one' (physical space) and 'at present' (time). For the time sense, it's more literary than 现在, similar in tone to 目前.

noun
before one's eyesright in front of oneat presentnowthe current moment
Easily confused

Examples

  • 眼前，。
    yǎn qián Yǒu yì zhāng zhuō zi, shàng miàn fàng zhe shū.
    There is a table right in front of me, with books on it.
  • 眼前。
    yǎn qián Zuì zhòng yào de shì shì hǎo hǎo xué xí.
    The most important thing at present is to study hard.
  • 眼前，。
    Tā zhàn zài wǒ yǎn qián, duì wǒ xiào le xiào.
    He stood right in front of me and smiled at me.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

眼yǎneye
前qiánfront

眼 names the eyes and 前 names the space in front, together meaning before the eyes or now.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
目目mùeye
Sound part声符shēngfú
艮
艮gèn眼yǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

眼 combines 目, which is an eye, with 艮, which gives the character's sound.

Open 眼 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

In the older form of 前, 止 (foot) and 舟 (boat) showed a foot on a boat moving forward; in the current 前 those parts are shortened.

Open 前 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4Time (Abstract)3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 4 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.