This is the 5527th most frequent Chinese word.
公元前
"Before Common Era (BCE)" or "Before Christ (BC)."
The term "公元前" is used here to specify a historical date prior to the Gregorian calendar commonly referred to as "BC".
公元前500年，孔子出生在中国。
In 500 BC, Confucius was born in China.
"公元前" is used in this sentence to represent the time period before the start of the Common Era as a general historical reference.
公元前的文化对现代社会产生了深远的影响。
The culture from before the Common Era has had a profound impact on modern society.
In this sentence, "公元前" is employed to denote ancient history broadly and is associated with a timeframe context in discussions of unresolved historical phenomena.