先后

The Chinese word 先后 (xiān hòu) is composed of two characters: 先 (xiān), meaning "first" or "before", and 后 (hòu), meaning "after" or "later". Together, they form a compound word that means "before and after", "in order of precedence", or "in chronological order".The character 先 (xiān) is derived from the oracle bone script, which depicts a person standing in front of another person. This suggests that the original meaning of 先 was "to be in front" or "to lead". Over time, the meaning of 先 expanded to include "first" and "before".The character 后 (hòu) is also derived from the oracle bone script, which depicts a woman with a child on her back. This suggests that the original meaning of 后 was "mother". Over time, the meaning of 后 expanded to include "queen", "empress", and "later".The compound word 先后 (xiān hòu) is first recorded in the Shijing, a collection of ancient Chinese poems. In the Shijing, 先后 is used to refer to the order of precedence in the Zhou dynasty court.Today, 先后 is commonly used in Chinese to refer to the order of events or the order of precedence. For example, we can say 先后顺序 (xiān hòu shùn xù) to mean "the order of events" or 先后顺序 (xiān hòu shùn xù) to mean "the order of precedence".