前车之鉴 (qián chē zhī jiàn)

Character breakdown

• 前 (qián) · 9 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 歬 represents the sound, and 刂 represents the meaning. Based on the original meaning "cut", now written as 剪. The current meaning "in front" is a phonetic loan.

• 车 (Chē) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of a war chariot. The simplified character 车 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 車.

• 之 (zhī) · 3 strokes

  Pictograph of a foot (止) going out of an area. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

• 鉴 (jiàn) · 13 strokes

Usage

我们要以前车之鉴为教训，避免重蹈覆辙。

We should take lessons from past mistakes and avoid repeating them.

Wǒmen yào yǐ qián chē zhī jiàn wéi jiàoxùn, bìmiǎn chóngdǎo fùzhé.