xiān

common

Meaning of 起先

起先 means at first; initially; in the beginning. Pronounced qǐ xiān.

  • at first; initially; in the beginning

Definitions & Examples

Zhè
yàng
zuò
 
xiān
yǒu
xiē
xiǎng
tōng
 
hòu
lái
cái
xiǎng
tōng
le
 

I didn't quite understand why we should do it this way at first, but later I figured it out.

Méng
lóng
zhōng
tīng
jiàn
wài
miàn
shù
huā
huā
xiǎng
 
xiān
hái
wéi
shì
xià
 
tīng
 
cái
zhī
dào
shì
guā
fēng
 

In my drowsiness, I heard the rustling of leaves outside; I initially thought it was raining, but upon listening carefully, I realized it was the wind.

xiān
tóng
zhè
ge
huà
 
dàn
tīng
le
jiā
de
jiě
shì
hòu
jiù
gǎi
biàn
le
zhǔ
 

He didn't agree with the plan at first, but changed his mind after hearing everyone's explanations.

xiān
wéi
zhè
shì
ge
hěn
jiǎn
dān
de
wèn
 
méi
xiǎng
dào
huā
le
zhè
me
jiǔ
cái
jiě
jué
 

I initially thought this was a very simple problem, but I didn't expect it would take this long to solve.

Gōng
xiān
de
guī
hěn
xiǎo
 
zhǐ
yǒu
ge
yuán
gōng
 

The company was very small at the beginning, with only a few employees.