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古

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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

Translingual

More information Stroke order ...
More information Stroke order ...

Han character

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

  1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №53

Derived characters

Additional Derived Characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 171, character 8
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3233
  • Dae Jaweon: page 380, character 6
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 568, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+53E4
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Chinese

More information simp. and trad., alternative forms ...
Wikipedia has articles on:

Glyph origin

More information Historical forms of the character 古, Shang ...
Characters in the same phonetic series (古) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
More information Old Chinese ...

Ideogram (指事): A shield (十, contraction of 盾 and similar but unrelated to 中) and the radical of the mouth (口) both as a distinguishing mark and as a component that partly indicates pronunciation. Together, they indicate the concept of "strong, firm" (as strong as a shield); original form of 固 (OC *kaːs) (Qiu Xigui, Ding Shan 丁山). Later, the meaning of "solid, firm" shifted to "antiquity" for unclear reasons. Compare oracle bone forms with 干, 盾. Unrelated to 中 and hence to 史 and 使.

Fang (1982) finds evidence for the 十 component originally being a depiction of a piece of food and the character originally being a depiction of someone spitting out a piece of food due to his bad taste. Thus, Fang argues this character is the original form of 苦 (kǔ), "bitter".

Etymology

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

Pronunciation 1

Note: kū - in 古田 (Kŭ-chèng).
Note: kou3 - in 古田 (kou3 ceng2).
Note:
  • geu2 - vernacular;
  • gu2 - literary.
More information Rime, Character ...
More information Character, Reading # ...
More information Zhengzhang system (2003), Character ...

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,(Can we add an example for this sense?)
  5. things in the past; antiquities; history
  6. (Cantonese, Hakka, Southern Min) story (Classifier: 段 c)
    Alternative form: (Cantonese) 故
    講古／讲古 [Cantonese]  ―  gong2 gu2 [Jyutping]  ―  to tell a story
  7. short for 古體詩／古体诗 (gǔtǐshī, “ancient-style poem”)
  8. a surname
    古天樂／古天乐 [Cantonese]  ―  gu2 tin1 lok6 [Jyutping]  ―  Louis Koo Tin-lok (Hong Kong actor)

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (古):
  • → Japanese: 古(こ) (ko)
  • → Korean: 고(古) (go)
  • → Vietnamese: cổ (古)

Others:

  • → Vietnamese: cũ

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

古

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 固 (gù)
  2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) alternative form of 故 (gù)

Pronunciation 3

Definitions

古

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) only used in 古成

References

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Korean

Vietnamese

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