Several parts combine into one character.

Oracle bone 前 originally showed a foot (止) standing on a boat (舟) — encoding "the foot pointed toward the bow / forward direction of the vessel". Later seal-script versions added 刂 (knife radical) in a stylization shift that obscured the original picture. The modern character does not look like a foot on a boat anymore, but the etymology is worth knowing because it explains why this character means both "front" (spatial) and "before / earlier" (temporal). A boat's bow leads in space; what leads in space leads in time. Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

The space-time double-meaning is a critical pattern. 前 = "in front of" + "before / previous": 午前 (gozen / wǔqián, morning — "before noon"), 以前 (izen / yǐqián, previously), 前年 (zennen / qiánnián, previous year), 前後 (zengo / qiánhòu, before-and-after / approximately). When you see 前 in a temporal compound, expect "before"; in a spatial compound, expect "front".

Mandarin: qián, rising 2nd tone. 前面 (qiánmiàn, in front), 以前 (yǐqián, before — high frequency), 前后 (qiánhòu, around / approximately), 目前 (mùqián, currently — "before the eye"), 前途 (qiántú, future / prospects — "the road ahead"). Pairs with 后 / 後 (hòu, behind / after).

Japanese: on-reading ゼン (zen) for everyday compounds — 午前 (gozen, AM), 前進 (zenshin, advance), 前回 (zenkai, last time), 以前 (izen, before). The kun-reading まえ (mae) is the everyday word for "front / before" — 前 (mae), 前に (mae ni, before), 三日前 (mikka mae, three days ago), 駅前 (ekimae, "in front of the station" — extremely common in Japanese addresses). Pairs with 後 (ushiro / ato).

Memory aid: the modern shape is opaque, so the picture-mnemonic is the etymology — "foot on the bow, pointing forward".