预售

• Pinyin: yù shòu
• Hanzi breakdown: 预 = 予 + 页 (in advance); 售 = 亻+ 隹 + 口 (person + bird + mouth — to hawk goods, to sell)

Meaning

Pre-sale; advance sale; to sell in advance before the official launch or availability date.

Covers pre-orders for products (especially digital products, smartphones, films, books) and advance ticket sales (预售票). In China's real estate market, 预售 refers specifically to the controversial practice of selling uncompleted residential properties before construction is finished (商品房预售制度). This practice has been central to debates about real estate financing and housing risk.

Examples

1. 这款热门游戏正式发售前三个月开放预售，首周就破百万份。 This popular game opened pre-sale three months before release and sold over a million copies in its first week.
2. 中国商品房预售制度曾支撑开发商快速扩张，但风险正促使改革。 China's commercial housing pre-sale system once supported rapid developer expansion, but its risks are now pushing reform.
3. 院线预售票房常被用来预测新片首周走势，但它也反映营销和热度。 Theaters' pre-sale box office is often used to predict a new film's first-week trend, but it also reflects marketing and hype.

Usage Guide

Context: commerce, real estate, entertainment, retail

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 针对预售资金挪用和烂尾问题，住建部已要求各地加强监管，确保预售款专款专用。(In response to pre-sale fund misuse and stalled projects, the housing ministry has ordered localities to strengthen supervision and ensure pre-sale funds are used only for designated purposes.)
• 新书预售数据受出版社重视，因为它既反映需求，也影响上市当天的榜单排名。(New book pre-sale data is valued by publishers because it reflects demand and also affects the release-day chart rankings.)

Don't Say

• 我预售了一件衣服 — 预售 is typically used institutionally (a business conducts a pre-sale); an individual purchasing during a pre-sale would say 我预购了/预订了一件衣服 (I pre-ordered a piece of clothing), not 我预售了

Origin & History

预 (in advance) + 售 (to sell — 亻person + 隹 bird + 口 mouth, originally: to hawk/peddle goods with the voice). Together: to sell in advance.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal