咗

咗 U+5497, 咗 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5497 ← 咖 [U+5496] CJK Unified Ideographs 咘 → [U+5498]

Translingual

Han character

咗 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 口大一 (RKM), composition ⿰口左)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 185, character 21
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 599, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5497

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声) : semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 左

Etymology 1

simp. and trad.		咗
alternative forms		唨 rare 阻 rare 咀 rare 左 nonstandard o左 internet

First attested in 《散語四十章》 (1877) as 唨. This word replaces earlier 嘵／哓 (hiu¹) in standard Cantonese.

Probably from 著／着 (Cheung, 1997; Chan, 1998; Fan and Chan, 2022); the pronunciation may be due to influence from Mandarin zhuó (Chan, 1998) or colloquial tonal modification to a high-rising tone (Cheung, 1997).

Chan (1995) proposes that the original character is 𧇣 (MC dzuH, “to go”); others (including Jimmy Pang and Chapman Chan) have similarly proposed 徂 (MC dzu, “to go”) to be the original character. These derivations are phonologically and semantically problematic.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zo²

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: zo²
    • Yale: jó
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzo²
    • Guangdong Romanization: zo²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɔː³⁵/

Definitions

咗

1. (Cantonese) Used to emphasise an action which has been completed and whose result still applies to the present situation. It roughly translates to the past tense in English. [from 19th c.]

   佢哋啱啱走咗。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   keoi⁵ dei⁶ ngaam¹ ngaam¹ zau² zo². [Jyutping]

   They left just now.

   阿媽尋日煲咗湯。佢而家去咗超級市場買餸。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   阿妈寻日煲咗汤。佢而家去咗超级市场买𩠌。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   aa³ maa¹ cam⁴ jat⁶ bou¹ zo² tong¹. keoi⁵ ji⁴ gaa¹ heoi³ zo² ciu¹ kap¹ si⁵ coeng⁴ maai⁵ sung³. [Jyutping]

   My mum made soup yesterday. Now, she has gone grocery shopping in the supermarket.

   食咗就冇 [Cantonese]  ―  sik⁶ zo² zau⁶ mou⁵ [Jyutping]  ―  if you eat it there will not be any more

   • 你知佢去邊處唔呢出唨街去嘵街 [Cantonese, trad.]
     你知佢去边处唔呢出唨街去哓街 [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 1877, 《散語四十章》, chapter 3

     nei⁵ zi¹ keoi⁵ heoi³ bin¹ syu³ m⁴ ne¹ ceot¹ zo² gaai¹ heoi³ hiu¹ gaai¹ [Jyutping]

     Do you know where he is going? He went out, went out

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

   剩返咁多餸，你聽日晏晝食咗佢啦！ [Cantonese, trad.]
   剩返咁多𩠌，你听日晏昼食咗佢啦！ [Cantonese, simp.]

   zing⁶ faan¹ gam³ do¹ sung³, nei⁵ ting¹ jat⁶ aan³ zau³ sik⁶ zo² keoi⁵ laa¹! [Jyutping]

   There's so many food left. You should have them for lunch tomorrow.

   快啲食咗佢！ [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

   faai³ di¹ sik⁶ zo² keoi⁵! [Jyutping]

   Finish eating it, now!

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 了 (“(perfective particle)”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		矣1
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		了
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	了
	Taiwan	了
	Harbin	了
	Malaysia	了
	Singapore	了
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	了
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	了
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	了
	Wanrong	嘮
	Xi'an	咧
	Xuzhou	了
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	了
	Ürümqi	咧
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	了
	Wuhan	了
	Guiyang	了
	Guilin	了
	Liuzhou	了
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	了
	Yangzhou	了
Cantonese	Guangzhou	咗, 嘵 obsolete
	Hong Kong	咗
	Hong Kong (San Tin Weitou)	咗
	Hong Kong (Kam Tin Weitou)	咗
	Hong Kong (Ting Kok)	耗
	Hong Kong (Tung Ping Chau)	好
	Macau	咗, 敲
	Guangzhou (Panyu)	咗
	Guangzhou (Huashan, Huadu)	咗
	Guangzhou (Conghua)	咗
	Foshan	咗
	Foshan (Sanshui)	咗
	Foshan (Mingcheng, Gaoming)	咗
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	哺
	Zhuhai (Qianshan, Xiangzhou)	咗
	Jiangmen (Xinhui)	誒, 咗
	Taishan	誒
	Kaiping (Chikan)	誒
	Enping (Niujiang)	誒
	Dongguan	敲
	Shenzhen (Shajing, Bao'an)	好
	Shenzhen (Dapeng)	後, 咗
	Qingyuan	咗
	Fogang	咗
	Yingde (Hanguang)	咗
	Shaoguan	咗
	Shaoguan (Qujiang)	咗
	Renhua	咗
	Lechang	咗
	Zhaoqing (Gaoyao)	咗
	Xinxing	標
	Luoding	咗
	Yangjiang	都
	Nanning	嗮
	Nanning (Tanka)	嗮
	Wuzhou	啊
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	了
	Guiping	畢
	Guiping (Mule)	開, 了
	Pingnan	開
	Guigang (Gangcheng)	開
	Guigang (Pingdong)	開, 了
	Beihai	了
	Beihai (Nankang)	了
	Beihai (Yingpan)	了
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	了, 咗
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	咗
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	了, 咗
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	咗
	Singapore (Guangfu)	咗
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	咗
	Móng Cái	了, 咗
Gan	Nanchang	了
	Lichuan	了
Hakka	Meixian	了
	Huizhou (Huicheng Bendihua)	拋, 阿
	Dongguan (Qingxi)	開
	Shenzhen (Shatoujiao)	開
	Zhongshan (Nanlang Heshui)	開
	Wuhua (Shuizhai)	哩
	Wuhua (Huacheng)	哩
	Wuhua (Changbu)	哩
	Wuhua (Mianyang)	哩
	Yudu	了
	Hong Kong	開
	Senai (Huiyang)	開
	Kuching (Hepo)	了
Huizhou	Jixi	了
Jin	Taiyuan	咾
	Xinzhou	咾
Jiuxing Yumin	Lanxi	了
Northern Min	Jian'ou	了
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	了, 𡅏
Southern Min	Penang (Hokkien)	了
	Singapore (Hokkien)	了
	Manila (Hokkien)	了, 囉
	Chaozhou	了
	Shantou	了
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	了
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	了
Wu	Shanghai	仔, 了
	Shanghai (Chongming)	仔
	Suzhou	仔
	Hangzhou	得, 了
	Hangzhou (Yuhang)	得, 了
	Ningbo	仔
	Wenzhou	爻
	Jinhua	了

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		咗

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zuo (zuo⁵／zuo⁰)

  (Zhuyin): ˙ㄗㄨㄛ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zuo
    • Zhuyin: ˙ㄗㄨㄛ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zuo̊
    • Wade–Giles: tso⁵
    • Yale: dzwo
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: .tzuo
    • Palladius: цзо (czo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /d͡z̥u̯ɔ/

Definitions

咗

1. A chant sound made while working.

Compounds

• 嘿咗