古

古 U+53E4, 古 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53E4 ← 口 [U+53E3] CJK Unified Ideographs 句 → [U+53E5]

Stroke order

Stroke order

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

1. Shuowen Jiezi radical №53

• 估, 咕, 姑, 岵, 怙, 𢫈, 沽, 狜, 枯, 㱠, 𤇌, 牯, 祜, 𦙶, 䀦, 秙, 𧙖, 䊀, 䑩, 蛄, 詁 (诂), 跍, 軲 (轱), 酤, 鈷 (钴), 𩚩, 𦹵, 骷, 𡪻, 鮕, 𡳰
• 故, 胡, 㼋, 瓳, 䎁, 𨐒, 𠸙, 䧸, 嘏, 𦹯, 鴣 (鸪)
• 克, 㕝, 怘, 㖛, 辜, 㕆, 呄, 㝒, 居, 苦, 㽽, 𥥖, 罟, 䇢, 啇, 𠸗
• 𣭎, 固, 㑸, 𤚦, 䀇, 䂋

• 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

simp. and trad.		古
alternative forms		𠖠 ‡ 故 Cantonese "story"

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".

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

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 (Classifier: 段 c)

   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)

Others:

• → Vietnamese: cũ

古

1. ^† Alternative form of 固 (gù)
2. ^† Alternative form of 故 (gù)

古

1. ^† Only used in 古成.

• “古”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

• 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)}

Kanji in this term
古
いにしえ Grade: 2
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 古 – see the following entry.

【いにしえ】 [noun] the past [noun] ancient times [noun] (archaic, obsolete) the deceased Alternative spellings 昔, 古え, 昔え, 往にしへ, 去にしへ

(This term, 古, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Kanji in this term
古
ふる Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
旧 故

Stem of adjective 古い (furui, “old”).

• (Tokyo) ふる [fúꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟ɾɯ̟]

古(ふる) • (furu) 

1. used item, secondhand item, hand-me-down

古(ふる) • (furu-) 

1. paleo-, old, used, previous

古 (eumhun 옛 고 (yet go))

1. hanja form^? of 고 (“old; ancient”)

古: Hán Việt readings: cổ (公(công)土(thổ)切(thiết))^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
古: Nôm readings: cổ^{[1][2][4][5][6]}, cỗ^{[2][3][7][4][6]}, của^[1][2], có^[1], cỏ^[1], kẻ^[3]

古 • (cổ)

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

古 • (cổ, của)

1. Nôm form of cổ (“neck”).
2. Nôm form of của (“property; belongings”).