風ふう前ぜん

noun

where the wind blows; before the wind

Used almost exclusively in the idiom 風前の灯火 (a lamp before the wind), meaning something extremely precarious or on the verge of extinction. The standalone noun is rare.

• その小ちいさな会かい社しゃは風ふう前ぜんの灯ともし火びだ。

  That small company is like a candle before the wind—on the verge of collapse.

• 「風ふう前ぜんの灯ともし火び」という表ひょう現げんは、非ひ常じょうに危あやうい状じょう態たいを表あらわす。

  The expression 風前の灯火 describes a highly precarious situation.