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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

舊

jiù
old; former; past
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 臼
  • 18 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɡʷɯs): semantic 雈 (“owl”) + phonetic 臼 (OC *ɡuʔ).

Originally refers to a type of owl; later phonetically borrowed for a homophonous word meaning "old." The upper portion frequently appears as 萑 (a type of grass).

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *(g/k)əw-n (“elder brother; senior male relative”), which is also compared to 舅 (OC *ɡuʔ, “maternal uncle”), 昆 (OC *kuːn, “elder brother”) (Sagart, 1999; STEDT).

Baxter and Sagart (2014) compares it to 久 (OC *[k]ʷəʔ). See there for more.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*(g/k)əw-n “elder brother; senior male relative”
  • meaningChinese雈 “type of owl”
  • soundChinese臼 “mortar (hollow vessel used to pound or crush ingredients)”

Meanings

character
  1. old; former; past
  2. old; used; worn
  3. former; once-existing
  4. old friend or friendship, or things in the past
  5. last; previous

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

舊：𨾦舊，舊畱也。从雈臼聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 使用過一段時間的。與「新」相對。 例：舊車、舊書、舊衣服　◎
  2. 從前的、過去的。與「新」相對。 例：舊日、舊交、重操舊業
  3. 老朋友。 例：親朋故舊

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 舊 was written 字形演變

  1. 舊 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 舊 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 舊 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 舊 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 舊 in Clerical script
    Clerical
    隸書
    Han
  6. 舊 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 舊