前无古人
qián wú gǔ rén
without precedent; never achieved before
Character by character
前qián
before
before
无wú
no
no
古gǔ
ancient
ancient
人rén
people
people
Example
他在同一届奥运会上拿了八枚金牌，这样的成绩可以说是前无古人。
He won eight gold medals at a single Olympics, a feat nobody had ever achieved before.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
Often in full: 前无古人，后无来者, nobody before and nobody after, an echo of 陈子昂’s Tang poem 《登幽州台歌》. It praises a person’s feat; for events good or bad, use the neutral 史无前例 from lesson 5-15.
Learn this in Lesson 124 · HSK 7–9: 人造太阳的一千秒 (Science news: 1,066 seconds of an artificial sun)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
Open the lesson →