Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

昨: yesterday, previous

JLPT N39 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

日 carries the meaning · 乍 gives the sound

9 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

サクsaku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 昨夜さくやlast night
  • 昨晩さくばんlast night
  • 昨日さくじつ/*きのうyesterday
  • 昨年さくねんlast year
  • 昨秋さくしゅうautumn of last year; fall of last year
  • 昨春さくしゅんlast spring; the spring of last year
  • 昨今さっこんthese days; nowadays; recently

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 一昨日おとといday before yesterday

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)日 sun (meaning) + 乍 (sound)

However, the phonetic component could add part of the meaning since it was borrowed phonetically to mean "at first".

Source: Wiktionary, 昨 (rev. 88221463), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“The life-giving sun in the sky! This simple box was once a perfect circle, representing the regular rising and setting of the sun that marks the rhythm of our lives.”
More in the 日 sun story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
日

Also built on sun (日)

All 70
乍

Also built on 乍

昨 takes the 乍 family's reading, サク (saku).

Also read サク

13 kanji share this on'yomiAll 13

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
昨 yesterday · 日
vs作 make · 亻
昨 has 日 where 作 has 亻.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zuó

Same form: 昨 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
昨 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
昨 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin zuó 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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