古

See also: 吉 and 𠮷

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

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

Derived characters

• 固, 苦, 胡, 辜, 姑, 居, 怙, 沽, 蛄, 故, 枯, 鈷(钴), 詁(诂), 鴣(鸪)

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

simp. and trad.		古
alternative forms		𠖠 ‡

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 古
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

Unknown.

Shuowen: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 十 (“ten”) + 口 (“mouth”).

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”). May be also related to Indonesian kuno.

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 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, Southern Min) story

   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

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (古):

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

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

古

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: く (ku)
• Kan-on: こ (ko, Jōyō)
• Kun: ふるい (furui, 古い, Jōyō); ふるす (furusu, 古す, Jōyō); いにしえ (inishie, 古)^{←いにしへ (inisife, 古, historical)}

Compounds

Compounds

• 古意(こい) (koi)
• 古雅(こが) (koga)
• 古稀(こき) (koki)
• 古今(ここん) (kokon)
• 古参(こさん) (kosan)
• 古址(こし) (koshi)
• 古(こ)式(しき) (koshiki)
• 古(こ)色(しょく) (koshoku)
• 古(こ)称(しょう) (koshō)
• 古茶(こちゃ) (kocha): tea from last year
• 古典(こてん) (koten)
• 古都(こと) (koto)
• 古風(こふう) (kofū)
• 古文(こぶん) (kobun)
• 古(こ)来(らい) (korai)
• 名古屋(なごや) (Nagoya)

Etymology

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

Noun

古(いにしえ) • (inishie) ^{←いにしへ (inisife)?}

1. the past
2. ancient times

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Korean

Hanja

古 (eumhun 옛 고 (yet go))

1. hanja form^? of 고 (“old; ancient”)

Compounds

Compounds

• 고금 (古琴, gogeum)
• 고고 (考古, gogo)
• 고전 (古典, gojeon)
• 고옥 (古屋, gook)
• 고풍 (古風, gopung)
• 고서 (古書, goseo)
• 중고 (中古, junggo)
• 몽고 (蒙古, monggo)
• 상고 (上古, sanggo)

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Vietnamese

Han character

古: Hán Việt readings: cổ (公(công)土(thổ)切(thiết))
古: Nôm readings: cổ, cỗ, của, có, cỏ, kẻ

1. chữ Hán form of cổ (“ancient; old”).
2. Nôm form of cổ (“neck”).

Compounds

Compounds

• 古典 (cổ điển)
• 古文 (cổ văn)
• 考古 (khảo cổ)
• 蒙古 (Mông Cổ)