Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

旧: old times, old things

Also: old friend, former, ex-

JLPT N25 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

丨 and 日 carry the meaning

5 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

キュウkyuu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 旧きゅうold, ex-
  • 旧姓きゅうせいmaiden name
  • 旧式きゅうしきold-fashioned
  • 旧制きゅうせいold system, old order
  • 旧家きゅうかold family
  • 旧暦きゅうれきold lunar calendar
  • 旧約聖書きゅうやくせいしょOld Testament
  • 新旧しんきゅうnew and old
  • 旧弊なきゅうへいなold-fashioned, conservative
  • 復旧するふっきゅうするrestore, restitute, rehabilitate

Also read ふるい, もと, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)雈 owl (meaning) + 臼 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 舊 (rev. 92078280), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Vertical stroke (丨) + sun (日). Originally represented a branch or marker blocking the "sun," eventually evolving to mean something "ancient" or "former."”
From the 丨 vertical stroke story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
丨

Also built on vertical stroke (丨)

All 17
日

Also built on sun (日)

All 70

Also read キュウ

28 kanji share this on'yomiAll 28

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
旧 old times
vs由 wherefore
Same parts, arranged differently.
In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 舊 · jiù

Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 旧. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 舊.

Simplified
旧 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
舊 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin jiù most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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