先民

xiānmín
forebears

CEDICT

  1. (literary) ancient sage
  2. (literary) people of old; the ancients
  3. ancient sage
  4. people of old; the ancients

Wiktionary

  1. 稱古之賢者。
  2. 古人。

重編國語辭典

Entry Composition

1 先 xiān
  1. beforehand; first; earlier
  2. at first; originally
  3. for the time being; for now
  4. (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself)
2 民 mín
  1. (bound form) the people
  2. inhabitants of a country

Related entries

前人 qiánrén
  1. predecessor
  2. forebears
  3. the person facing you
前人铺路，后人行路。

One generation builds the street that the next will travel on.

Source: Tatoeba