No. 3,119 in Japanese
先手
"先手" (sente) means "initiative" or "first move."
In a sentence
敵が攻撃してくる前に先手を打つべきです。
We should strike first before the enemy attacks.
Here, "先手" is used to mean taking the initiative or acting preemptively in a situation to gain an advantage.
彼のチェスのゲームでは毎回先手を取ります。
In his chess games, he always takes the first move.
In this context, "先手" refers to taking the first move in a game or situation, often to gain an upper hand.
討論の場で彼女が先手を取って話し始めた。
She took the initiative and started speaking during the debate.
Here, "先手" is used metaphorically to signify taking the initiative or leading the action in a competitive or strategic environment.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “先手” in actual Japanese podcasts.
Find “先手” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Japanese podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into 日本語, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Japanese books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).