未み然ぜん

み

ぜ

ん

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

before it happens; in advance; preventive

Used in formal or written contexts to describe actions taken to prevent something from occurring. Often appears in compounds like 未然に防ぐ (prevent before it happens).

事じ故こを未み然ぜんに防ふせぐための対たい策さくが必

ひつ

要よう

だ

。

Measures to prevent accidents before they happen are necessary.

問もん題だいが大おおきくなる前まえに、未み然ぜんに対たい処しょした。

We dealt with it in advance before the problem grew.

Usage patterns

〈事こと〉を未み然ぜんに食くい止とめるto stop something before it happens; to nip something in the bud
警けい察さつは事じ件けんを未み然ぜんに食くい止とめた。
The police stopped the incident before it happened.

Expressions

未み然ぜんに防ふせぐprevent in advance; nip in the bud; take precautions against

Kanji

未un-, not yet, hitherto
然sort of thing, so, if so

Related words

事じ前ぜんN2
事前 is the common, neutral word for 'beforehand' or 'in advance', while 未然 specifically implies stopping something bad from happening and appears mainly in set phrases like 未然に防ぐ.
予よ防ぼうN3
予防 is 'prevention', especially of illness or accidents through active measures, whereas 未然 is a more abstract, formal way of saying 'before it occurs' and is usually paired with 防ぐ or 食い止める.

Don't confuse with

依い然ぜんN2
依然 (still, unchanged) and 未然 (before something happens, as in 未然に防ぐ) sound alike and both end in 然 but describe opposite time relationships.

Word family

未み然ぜん形けい
irrealis form
未み然ぜん防ぼう止し
prevention; preventive measure

Etymology

From 未 (not yet) and 然 (so, like that), literally 'not yet so'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the compound has been used in formal Japanese to mean 'before it happens'.