昨

zuó

乍 + 日

Definitions

zuó (adverb) yesterday

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 乍 represents the sound.

Semantic: 日 Phonetic: 乍

About

A phono-semantic compound, 昨 combines the 日 radical (rì, 'sun, day') on the left, signaling a link to time, with 乍 (zhà) on the right to indicate its pronunciation. Its core meaning is 'yesterday', the day immediately before today. Beyond this, the character extends to the recent past and commonly appears in compound words like 昨晚 (last night) and 昨日 (yesterday, or by extension, former days), where it anchors references to previous nights, past events, or earlier times.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

昨天天气很好。

Zuótiān tiānqì hěn hǎo.

The weather was very nice yesterday.

我昨天去了公园。

Wǒ zuótiān qùle gōngyuán.

I went to the park yesterday.

我们昨晚看了电影。

Wǒmen zuówǎn kànle diànyǐng.

We watched a movie last night.

昨天的会议很重要。

Zuótiān de huìyì hěn zhòngyào.

Yesterday's meeting was very important.

请忘记昨日的烦恼。

Qǐng wàngjì zuórì de fánnǎo.

Please forget about yesterday's troubles.

他至今怀念昨日的辉煌。

Tā zhìjīn huáiniàn zuórì de huīhuáng.

He still misses the glory of yesterday.

昨日的承诺今日兑现。

Zuórì de chéngnuò jīnrì duìxiàn.

Yesterday's promise is fulfilled today.

昨日的疲劳一扫而空。

Zuórì de píláo yì sǎo ér kōng.

The fatigue from yesterday is completely gone.

Related Characters

Component: 乍

Component: 日

昨