先達

先达
xiāndá
(literary) our learned predecessors

CEDICT

literary

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 達 dá
  1. to attain
  2. to reach
  3. to amount to
  4. to communicate
  5. eminent