前言

qiányán
  1. preface; foreword; introduction; preamble
  2. earlier remarks; earlier words
  3. (literary) words of the ancient thinkers

CEDICT

literary

Entry Composition

1 前 qián
  1. front
  2. forward
  3. ahead
  4. first
  5. top (followed by a number)
  6. future
  7. ago
  8. before
  9. BC (e.g. 前293年)
  10. former
  11. formerly
2 言 yán
  1. words
  2. speech
  3. to say
  4. to talk