first come, first served

See also: first-come-first-served and first come first served

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

first come, first served

1. (idiomatic) People will be dealt with in the order they arrive.
   • 2020 January 2, Philip Haigh, “Is there relief to congestion along Castlefield Corridor?”, in Rail, page 22:

     This complicated situation means that strategically managing services through the central Manchester area and beyond is not possible for signallers in the Greater Manchester area, and trains are invariably dealt with on a 'first come, first served' basis.

Derived terms

• first-come-first-served

Related terms

• the early bird gets the worm

Translations

people will be dealt with in the order they arrive

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 先到者，先招待 (xiān dào zhě, xiān zhāodài), 先到先招待 (xiān dào xiān zhāodài), 先到先得 (zh) (xiāndàoxiāndé)

• Czech: kdo dřív přijde, ten dřív mele
• Danish: den, der kommer først til mølle, får først malet
• Dutch: wie het eerst komt, het eerst maalt
• Esperanto: unua venis, unua prenis (eo)
• Finnish: ensiksi tullutta palvellaan ensin
• French: premier arrivé, premier servi (fr)
• German: wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst (de)
• Icelandic: fyrstur kemur, fyrstur fær
• Italian: chi prima arriva meglio alloggia
• Japanese: 先着順 (せんちゃくじゅん, senchakujun)
• Korean: 선착순 (ko) (seonchaksun)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: den som kommer først til mølla, får først malt

• Polish: kto pierwszy, ten lepszy (pl)
• Portuguese: primeiro a chegar, primeiro a ser atendido
• Romanian: primul venit, primul servit (literally “the first one to arrive (is) the first one to be provided a service”)
• Russian: пе́рвым при́был — первым обслу́жен (pérvym príbyl — pervym obslúžen), в поря́дке поступле́ния (v porjádke postuplénija), в поря́дке живо́й о́череди (v porjádke živój óčeredi), поздний гость гложет и кость (pozdnij gostʹ gložet i kostʹ)
• Slovene: kdor prej pride, prej melje
• Spanish: por orden de llegada
• Swedish: först till kvarn (sv), först till kvarn får först mala (literally “first to the mill gets to grind first”)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 99.

Adjective

first come, first served (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of first-come-first-served

See also

• FIFO