前天

Etymology & Components

The Chinese word 前天 (qiántiān) literally means "before yesterday" and refers to the day before yesterday. It is composed of two characters: 前 (qián), which means "before" or "in front of," and 天 (tiān), which means "day" or "sky." The character 前 is often used in combination with other characters to indicate a position or time before something else, such as 前面 (qiánmiàn, "in front") or 前年 (qiánnián, "the year before last"). The character 天 is one of the most common characters in Chinese and is used in a wide variety of words and phrases related to time, weather, and the sky.The word 前天 is commonly used in everyday speech and writing to refer to the day before yesterday. For example, someone might say 前天我去了公园 (qiántiān wǒ qùle gōngyuán, "I went to the park the day before yesterday") or 前天晚上我看了电影 (qiántiān wǎnshang wǒ kànle diànyǐng, "I watched a movie the night before yesterday").It's worth noting that the concept of "yesterday" and "the day before yesterday" can vary depending on the region and culture. In some cases, 前天 may also be used to refer to the day before the day before yesterday, which would be two days ago. However, in most standard Mandarin usage, 前天 specifically refers to the day before yesterday.