捷足先登

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Chinese

victory; triumph; quick
victory; triumph; quick; prompt; rapid
 
foot; to be sufficient
early; prior; former
early; prior; former; in advance; first
 
to go up; to climb; ascend
to go up; to climb; ascend; mount; register; note; to publish; to issue; to record
 
simp. and trad.
(捷足先登)
Literally: “the quick of foot will be the first to ascend”.

Etymology

From earlier 疾足先得, which is derived from the following paragraph in Shiji:

鹿天下於是 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
鹿天下于是 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE
Qín shī qí lù, tiānxià gòng zhú zhī, yúshì gāo cái jí zú zhě xiān dé yān.
After Qin lost its deer, everyone was chasing for it. Then those who had outstanding talents and could act quickly (literally, “ran fast”) could obtain it first.

Pronunciation


Note: Jieyang.

Idiom

捷足先登

  1. to take the first step; to act early on; to beat to the punch; the early bird gets the worm