first
n. timen. You use 'first' to show the beginning of a list or a series of steps. It tells you what to do before anything else.
n. Indicates the initial item in an ordered sequence or enumeration. It introduces the first point or action in a series.
First, open the book to page one.
To make the recipe, first chop the onions, and then heat the oil in a pan.
The report recommended that the company first stabilize its cash flow before attempting any ambitious expansion into new markets.
From Middle English first, furst, ferst, fyrst, from Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic furist, from Proto-Germanic furistaz (“first, foremost”), superlative of Proto-Germanic furai, furi (“before”), from Proto-Indo-European preh₂- (“before”), from per- (“before; first”), equivalent to fore + -est. Cognates Cognate with Scots first (“first”), Dutch voorste (“foremost, first”), vorst (“prince”), German Fürst (“chief, prince”, literally “first (born)”), Limburgish Vürsch (“prince”), Luxembourgish viischt (“anterior; forward”), Vilamovian fiyśt, fjəšt, fjyśt, fjyšt (“prince”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål først (“first”), Faroese and Icelandic fyrstur (“first”), Norwegian Nynorsk fyrst, først (“first”), Swedish först (“first”); also Latin prīnceps (“first, foremost; chief”), Greek παρ’ (par’), παρά (pará, “despite; less”), Mycenaean Greek 𐀞𐀫 (pa-ro, “from”), Albanian parë (“first; chief, main”), Latgalian pyrmais (“first”), Latvian pirmais (“first; foremost”), Lithuanian pirmas (“first; primary”), Bulgarian пъ́рви (pǎ́rvi), пръ́в (prǎ́v, “first”), Czech and Slovak prvý (“first”), Macedonian прв (prv), први (prvi, “first”), Polish piersy, pierwszy, pirszy (“first”), Russian пе́рвый (pérvyj, “first”), Serbo-Croatian пр̑вӣ, pȓvī (“first”), Slovene prvi (“first”), Armenian հարավ (harav, “south”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬎𐬭𐬎𐬎𐬀 (paᵘruua, “before, first”), Tocharian A pärwat (“first”), Tocharian B parwe (“first”), Sanskrit पूर्व (pūrva, “before”).
From Middle English first, furst, fyrst, from Old English fyrst, fierst, first (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic frestaz, fristiz, frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”). Cognate with North Frisian ferst, frest (“period, time”), German Frist (“period, deadline, term”), Swedish frist (“deadline, respite, reprieve, time-limit”), Icelandic frestur (“period”). See also frist.
As a sequencing adverb, it typically appears at the beginning of a clause, often followed by a comma, to introduce the first step in a process.
First I didn't like the city, but now I do.At first I didn't like the city, but now I do.Use 'at first' for an initial state that changed over time. Use 'first' to list the first item in a sequence (e.g., 'First, do this.').