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Definition 2025

故

故

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

故 (radical 66 攴+5, 9 strokes, cangjie input 十口人大 (JROK), four-corner 48640, composition ⿰古攵)

References

  • KangXi: page 469, character 25
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13161
  • Dae Jaweon: page 820, character 5
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1453, character 5
  • Unihan data for U+6545

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 故

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 故
Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script
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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kaːs) : phonetic 古 ‎(OC *kaːʔ) + semantic 攵.

Etymology

Derivative of 古 (OC *kaːʔ, “old”). The sense “cause, reason” may be related too (“thing or person of former times”), or the same word as 固 (OC *kaːs, “solid, secure, sure”) (Schuessler 2007, apud Pulleyblank 1989).

Pronunciation

Rime
Character 故
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 見 (28)
Final (韻) 模 (23)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 古暮切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kuoH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kuoH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /koH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kɔH/
Li
Rong		 /koH/
Wang
Li		 /kuH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kuoH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 gù
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 故 故
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 gù gù
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ kuH › ‹ kuH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*kˤa(ʔ)-s/ /*kˤaʔ-s/
English fact; reason old (not new)

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 故
Reading # 1/1
No. 4228
Phonetic
component		 古
Rime
group		 魚
Rime
subdivision		 0
Corresponding
MC rime		 顧
Old
Chinese		 /*kaːs/

Definitions

故

  1. old; of the past
  2. cause; reason
    緣故 / 缘故  ―  yuángù  ―  reason
  3. accident; misfortune; unexpected event
  4. past things; antiquity
  5. old friend; good friend; close friend
  6. to die; to pass away
    已故  ―  yǐgù  ―  deceased [lit. has passed away]
  7. deceased; dead
  8. formerly; originally
  9. intentionally; deliberately
  10. still; as before
  11. therefore; so
    我思故我在  ―  wǒ sī gù wǒ zài  ―  I think, therefore I am

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

故

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. late (deceased)

Readings

Compounds

  • 故事成語 (こじせいご) ‎(kojiseigo)
  • 故意犯 (こいはん) ‎(koihan)
  • 物故 (ぶっこ) ‎(bukko)
  • 病故 (びょうこ) ‎(byōko)

Korean

Hanja

故 • ‎(go) (hangeul 고, revised go, McCune-Reischauer ko, Yale ko)

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Vietnamese

Han character

故 (cố, cớ)

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

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