preliminary announcement; advance notice; portent; sign; forewarning
Refers to an announcement or sign that comes before something else, often used for formal advance notices or omens.
新製品の先触れが届いた。
A preliminary announcement of the new product arrived.
その雲は嵐の先触れだった。
Those clouds were a portent of the storm.
Compound of 先 (saki, 'ahead') and 触れ (fure, 'announcement, notification'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word has been used since at least the Edo period for advance notices and omens.