‘往届’ literally combines ‘往’ (wǎng), meaning ‘past’ or ‘former’, and ‘届’ (jiè), meaning ‘cohort’, ‘term’, or ‘session’—often used for graduating classes, academic years, or organized events like competitions or conferences. Together, it refers to people or things belonging to previous cohorts or editions, especially in educational or institutional contexts.

The term is commonly used to distinguish current students or participants from those who completed a program earlier—for example, ‘往届生’ means ‘graduates of previous years’, and ‘往届比赛’ means ‘past editions of a competition’. It carries no temporal specificity on its own (e.g., not ‘last year’ but ‘any prior year’), and is neutral in register—frequent in official notices, university websites, job postings, and academic forms.