起先

起先	qǐ xiān	at first; in the beginning
起	qǐ	to rise / to raise / to get up / to set out / to start / to appear / to launch / to initiate (action) / to draft / to establish / to get (from a depot or counter) / verb suffix, to start / starting from (a time, place, price etc) / classifier for occurrences or unpredictable events: case, instance / classifier for groups: batch, group
先	xiān	beforehand; first; earlier / at first; originally / for the time being; for now / (prefix) my late (in referring to deceased relatives older than oneself)