昔

昔 U+6614, 昔 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6614 ← 易 [U+6613] CJK Unified Ideographs 昕 → [U+6615]

Translingual

Han character

昔 (Kangxi radical 72, 日+4, 8 strokes, cangjie input 廿日 (TA), four-corner 4460₁, composition ⿱龷日)

1. formerly
2. ancient
3. in the beginning

Derived characters

• 借 徣 惜 耤 措 腊 猎 醋 錯

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 492, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13816
• Dae Jaweon: page 855, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1488, character 11
• Unihan data for U+6614

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		昔
alternative forms		㫺 ancient form 𣊦 ancient form 𦠡 ancient form

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 昔
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 (昔) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
借	*ʔsjaːɡs, *ʔsjaːɡ
唶	*ʔsjaːɡs
藉	*zjaːɡs, *zjaːɡ
躤	*zjaːɡs
蜡	*zraːɡs, *sʰaːɡs
齰	*zraːɡs, *zraːɡ
醋	*sʰaːɡs
錯	*sʰaːɡs, *sʰaːɡ
措	*sʰaːɡs
厝	*sʰaːɡs, *sʰaːɡ
逪	*sʰaːɡ
剒	*sʰaːɡ
鵲	*sʰaɡ
碏	*sʰaɡ
踖	*sʰaɡ, *ʔsjaːɡ, *zjaːɡ
趞	*sʰaɡ
皵	*sʰaɡ, *sʰjaːɡ
舄	*sʰjaːɡ, *sʰaɡ, *sjaːɡ, *sjaːɡ
斮	*ʔsraɡ, *ʔsraːɡ
簎	*zraːwɢ, *sʰraːɡ, *zjaːɡ
諎	*ʔsraːɡ
矠	*sʰreːɡ, *zreːɡ
庴	*ʔsjaːɡ, *zjaːɡ
籍	*zjaːɡ
耤	*zjaːɡ
猎	*zjaːɡ
昔	*sjaːɡ
惜	*sjaːɡ
腊	*sjaːɡ
焟	*sjaːɡ
棤	*sjaːɡ

Oracle bone form: Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 𡿧 (“disaster; floods”) + 日 (“sun”) – the flood submerging the sun; the former times.

Shuowen: Two pieces of flesh (仌) left to dry in the sun (日). Original form of 腊 (OC *sjaːɡ).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 昔

1. former times; the past; long ago; ancient times

   • 昔去雪如花，今來花似雪。 [MSC, trad.]
     昔去雪如花，今来花似雪。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 范雲, 《別詩》

     Xī qù xuě rú huā, jīn lái huā sì xuě. [Pinyin]

     When I left then, the snow was like the flowers; I come now and the flowers are like the snow.

   • 昔魯公殺一無罪宮女，遂致九年旱澇；景公怒殺宮妃，臺傾三里。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     昔鲁公杀一无罪宫女，遂致九年旱涝；景公怒杀宫妃，台倾三里。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 甄偉, 西漢通俗演義

     Xī Lǔ Gōng shā yī wúzuì gōngnǚ, suì zhì jiǔ nián hànlào; Jǐng Gōng nù shā gōngfēi, tái qīng sān lǐ. [Pinyin]

     In olden times, the Duke of Lu murdered a guiltless palace maid, thus resulting in nine years of drought and flood; the Duke of Jing murdered a palace concubine in anger, causing terraces to collapse by three li.

2. ^† yesterday
3. ^† sunset; dusk
4. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 腊 (xī, “dried meat”).
5. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 夕 (xī, “evening; night”).
6. a surname

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): cuò (cuo⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄘㄨㄛˋ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: cuò
    • Zhuyin: ㄘㄨㄛˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: cuò
    • Wade–Giles: tsʻo⁴
    • Yale: tswò
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsuoh
    • Palladius: цо (co)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰu̯ɔ⁵¹/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 昔

1. ^† coarse; rough
2. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 錯／错 (cuò, “to criss-cross”).
3. ^† (deprecated template usage) Alternative form of 措 (cuò, “to use; to carry out”).

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Japanese

Kanji

昔

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: しゃく (shaku, Jōyō ^†)
• Kan-on: せき (seki, Jōyō)
• Kun: むかし (mukashi, 昔, Jōyō)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
昔
むかし Grade: 3
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. The muka portion derives from the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of verb 向く (muku, “to face opposite to something”), implying “that which stands opposite from the present”. The shi portion is suffix し (shi) indicating direction, also found in words 縦し (tatashi, “the standing or vertical direction”), 横し (yokoshi, “the sideways or horizontal direction”). This appears to be a somewhat rare alternative form, more commonly encountered as さ (sa), and may be cognate with the nominalizing adjective ending さ (sa).

Adverb

昔(むかし) • (mukashi) 

1. once (in the indeterminate past)

   昔(むかし)見(み)た映(えい)画(が)

   mukashi mita eiga

   a movie I once saw

Noun

昔(むかし) • (mukashi) 

1. the past, old times
   • 970–999, Utsubo Monogatari, page Toshikage:

     むかし、式部大輔、左大弁かけて清原の王ありけり。

   昔(むかし)と今(いま) ― mukashi to ima ― the past and the present

   昔(むかし)の自(じ)分(ぶん) ― mukashi no jibun ― my past self

   昔(むかし)からの友達(ともだち) ― mukashi kara no tomodachi ― a longtime friend (literally, “a friend since old times”)

   昔(むかし)に戻(もど)る ― mukashi ni modoru ― to return to the past

2. ancient

   昔(むかし)の人(ひと) ― mukashi no hito ― ancient people

   もう昔(むかし)の話(はなし)だ。 ― mō mukashi no hanashi da. ― That's ancient history.

Derived terms

• 昔(むかし)昔(むかし) (mukashi mukashi)

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Korean

Hanja

昔 • (seok, chak) (hangeul 석, 착, revised seok, chak, McCune–Reischauer sŏk, ch'ak, Yale sek, chak)

1. formerly
2. ancient
3. in beginning

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Vietnamese

Han character

昔: Hán Nôm readings: tích, tếch, thách, tách

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