争先恐后

striving to be first and fearing to be last (idiom); outdoing one another

Characters and words in 争先恐后

to strive for / to vie for / to argue or debate / deficient or lacking (dialect) / how or what (literary)

争 = ⺈ + 肀 : Mnemonic symbol: The grim reaper, as 争 is often used in words involving war (...战争). In front of the engine ((e)ng1), the grim reaper (争) marks his next victims in passing. With a crayon (肀) he draws big "X"s on the crane (⺈) and James II of England (zh).

争

爭

zhe̅ng

先

xia̅n

to compete to be first / to contest first place

先

xia̅n = xi + an1

early / prior / former / in advance / first

先 = ⺧ + 儿 : Mnemonic symbol: the First Lady of the United States, FLOTUS.

In front of the anthill, Sun Wukong, the FLOTUS and Marie Curie dance around the golden calf. When it comes to be in favour of their gods, everyone of them wants to be first.

恐

kǒng = ku + (e)ng3

afraid / frightened / to fear

恐 = 巩 + 心 : A terrorist (恐) is harassing Karl Koala (ku) inside of the engine ((e)ng3). The terrorists frightens (恐) Karl so much that his heart (心) jumps out of his body. The terrorist then quickly grabs Karl's heart and uses a padlock (巩) to lock it away to blackmail Karl.

后

hòu = h + ou4

empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler

后

後

hòu = h + ou4

back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post-

后 = ⺁ + 𠮛 : Mnemonic symbol: Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. Zenobia (后) and Hamlet (h) want to bake banana bread in the outhouse's bathroom (ou4), but they don't know how. Behind (后) a banana tree (⺁) they study a scroll (𠮛) on which the recipe is written.

Words with 争先恐后

争先恐后 is not used as a component in another word.

Sentences with 争先恐后

争先恐后 currently does not appear in any sentence.