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古

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ancient; old; paleo-

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HSK 3.0
Level 3
Old HSK
Level 5
Strokes
5
Radical
口 +2
Structure
Top–bottom 上下
Traditional
古
Common rank
#206
Unicode
U+53E4

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 古 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

Words passing through ten 十 mouths 口

Components 十 口

How to remember it

ancient · Heisig RSH #16

十 ten + 口 mouth — as a component also called: ancient

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 古

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

WordPinyinMeaning
人心不古 rén xīn bù gǔ (idiom) moral standards are much lower now than in former times
古生物学家 gǔ shēng wù xué jiā paleontologist; paleobiologist
古生物学 gǔ shēng wù xué palaeontology
特古西加尔巴 Tè gǔ xī jiā ěr bā Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras
古生物 gǔ shēng wù organism from the geological past
前无古人 qián wú gǔ rén (idiom) unprecedented; unheard of
前无古人，后无来者 qián wú gǔ rén , hòu wú lái zhě there has never been and never will be another person like this (idiom); never done before…
古城区 Gǔ chéng Qū Gucheng, a district of Lijiang City 麗江市|丽江市[Li4 jiang1 Shi4], Yunnan
德古拉 Dé gǔ lā Dracula, novel by Bram Stoker; Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431-1476), nicknamed Vlad t…
红古区 Hóng gǔ Qū Honggu, a district of Lanzhou City 蘭州市|兰州市[Lan2 zhou1 Shi4], Gansu
古文字学 gǔ wén zì xué paleography
古人 gǔ rén people of ancient times; the ancients; extinct human species such as Homo erectus or Homo …
利古里亚 Lì gǔ lǐ yà Liguria, northwest Italy
古县 Gǔ Xiàn Gu County or Guxian, a county in Linfen City 臨汾市|临汾市[Lin2 fen2 Shi4], Shanxi
通古斯 Tōng gǔ sī Tungus
德古西加巴 Dé gǔ xī jiā bā Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras (Tw)
古国 gǔ guó ancient country
中古 Zhōng Gǔ Sino-Cuban; China-Cuba
中古 zhōng gǔ medieval; Middle Ages; Chinese middle antiquity, 3rd to 9th centuries, including Sui and T…
古罗马 gǔ Luó mǎ ancient Rome

Sound family

These characters use 古 as their sound component — compare how they read.

CharacterPinyinMeaning
古 sound part gǔ old, classic, ancient
苦 kǔ bitter; hardship, suffering
胡 hú recklessly, foolishly; wildly
居 jū to live, to reside; to dwell; to sit
故 gù reason, cause; happening, instance
固 gù to solidify; strength
估 gū merchant; to estimate, to guess, to presume
咕 gū mumble, mutter, murmur; rumble
鸪 gū species of Taiwan pigeon
沽 gū to buy and sell; of inferior quality
蛄 gū mole cricket
辜 gū crime, offense, sin
祜 hù blessings, happiness, prosperity
怙 hù to rely on; to presume; father (formal)
钴 gǔ cobalt; clothes-iron
罟 gǔ net, snare; to implicate
诂 gǔ explanation; to comment, to explain
骷 kū skeleton
嘏 gǔ felicity, prosperity; large and strong