| 惩 |
chéng qián bì hòu | lit. to punish those before to prevent those after (idiom); to criticize former mistakes firmly to prevent them happening again |
| 惩 |
chéng | to punish / to reprimand / to warn |
| 前 |
qián | front / forward / ahead / first / top (followed by a number) / future / ago / before / BC (e.g. 前293年) / former / formerly |
| 毖 |
bì | careful / to prevent |
| 后 |
Hòu | surname Hou |
| 后 |
hòu | empress / queen / (archaic) monarch / ruler |
| 后 |
hòu | back / behind / rear / afterwards / after / later / post- |