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Definition 2024

古

古

古 U+53E4, 古
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53E4
← 口
[U+53E3] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 句 →
[U+53E5]
See also: 吉 and 𠮷

Translingual

Han character

古 (radical 30 口+2, 5 strokes, cangjie input 十口 (JR), four-corner 40600, composition ⿱十口)

Derived characters

References

  • KangXi: page 171, character 8
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3233
  • Dae Jaweon: page 380, character 6
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 568, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+53E4

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 古
alt. forms 𠖠 archaic

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 古
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series (古) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
箇 *kaːls
個 *kaːls
居 *kɯ, *kas
橭 *kaː, *kʰaː
嫴 *kaː
姑 *kaː
辜 *kaː
酤 *kaː, *kaːs, *ɡaːʔ
蛄 *kaː
鴣 *kaː
沽 *kaː, *kaːʔ, *kaːs
盬 *kaː, *kaːʔ
古 *kaːʔ
罟 *kaːʔ
估 *kaːʔ
鈷 *kaːʔ
詁 *kaːʔ
牯 *kaːʔ
故 *kaːs
固 *kaːs
稒 *kaːɡs
痼 *kaːɡs
錮 *kaːɡs
鯝 *kaːɡs
棝 *kaːɡs
凅 *kaːɡs
枯 *kʰaː
軲 *kʰaː
跍 *kʰaː
骷 *kʰaː
苦 *kʰaːʔ, *kʰaːs
葫 *qʰaː, *ɡaː
餬 *ɡaː
瑚 *ɡaː
湖 *ɡaː
鶘 *ɡaː
猢 *ɡaː
醐 *ɡaː
糊 *ɡaː
箶 *ɡaː
蝴 *ɡaː
胡 *ɡaː
瓳 *ɡaː
怙 *ɡaːʔ
祜 *ɡaːʔ
岵 *ɡaːʔ
婟 *ɡaːʔ, *ɡaːɡs
楛 *ɡaːʔ
据 *ka
裾 *ka
琚 *ka
椐 *ka, *kas, *kʰa
鶋 *ka
蜛 *ka
崌 *ka
涺 *ka
腒 *ka, *ɡa
鋸 *kas
倨 *kas
踞 *kas
涸 *ɡaːɡ

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 十 ‎(“ten”) + 口 ‎(“mouth; generation”) – ten generations; ancient.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-ga ‎(“old”). Cognate with 故 (OC *kaːs, “old things; former; dead”) and Tibetan རྒ་བ ‎(rga ba, “to be old; aged”).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 古
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 見 (28)
Final (韻) 模 (23)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 公戸切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kuoX/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kuoX/
Shao
Rongfen		 /koX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kɔX/
Li
Rong		 /koX/
Wang
Li		 /kuX/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kuoX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 gǔ
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 古
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 gǔ
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ kuX ›
Old
Chinese		 /*kˤaʔ/
English ancient

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 古
Reading # 1/1
No. 4219
Phonetic
component		 古
Rime
group		 魚
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 古
Old
Chinese		 /*kaːʔ/

Definitions

古

  1. the past; ancient times
    古今  ―  gǔjīn  ―  ancient and modern times
  2. old; ancient
  3. classic; old-styled
  4. simple; unaffected; unsophisticated
  5. things in the past; antiquities; history
  6. (Cantonese, Hakka, Min Nan) story
    講古 / 讲古 [Cantonese]  ―  gong2gu2 [Jyutping]  ―  to tell a story
  7. Short for 古體詩／古体诗 (“ancient-style poem”).
  8. A surname​.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

古

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology

inisipe > inisiɸe > inisiwe > inisie. Literally "that which has passed". From the verb pass ‎(inu) in adverbial form ini, the past marker き ‎(ki) in attributive form si, and 方 ‎(pe, “time, direction”).

Noun

古 ‎(hiragana いにしえ, romaji inishie, historical hiragana いにしへ)

  1. the past
  2. ancient times

Korean

Hanja

古 • ‎(go)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 고 (revised: go, McCune-Reischauer: ko)
  • Name (hangeul): 예 (revised: ye, McCune-Reischauer: ye)
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References

Vietnamese

Han character

古 (cổ, cỗ, kẻ, khương)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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