Troubles with the meaning of 先回り

[tomie98]

Hello hello WK community

I recently stumbled across the word “先回り” and I am having quite a fun time trying to understand what it means…
I find that with some words that don’t click immediately, I can read the JP context sentences to actually better understand the “general” meaning of the word, but this is simply not the case with this word.
Arriving ahead, going ahead, anticipation!? I asked my tutor about this word and even she had a difficult time trying to explain in “English” terms.

So… Does anyone have any hints or bits of knowledge to share that may help myself (and maybe others!) better understand the meaning of this word? Maybe this is actually a very simple word and I am overthinking it?

Thank you as always!

[Leebo]

The “arriving ahead” and “going ahead” meanings are literal, as in the following sentence.

先回りして一行の到着を待っていた
I went ahead and was waiting for the group to arrive.

It’s literally taking a shorter route or something to arrive in a physical place first.

The “anticipation” meaning is metaphorical. You “got there first” in thought process or some other abstract sense.

先回りした言い方
An anticipated phrasing

[Solemn_amy]

I also had a problem until I thought of scenarios to use it.

Arriving ahead of someone/thing…
あなたより 先回りしてここに 到着していた。
[I arrived here ahead of you.]

Doing something ahead of time…
先回りでも しているのか?
[Are you doing it ahead of time?]

Other than these, I wouldn’t see someone using this often, if at all, though because people usually specify “late” or “early” rather than just.