ChiramiTen + mouth = old: the kanji 古
The kanji for old is 古, as in 古い (furui), old. It’s 十, ten, on top of 口, a mouth, and the classic way to read it is a story that has passed through ten mouths: by the time ten people have retold it, it’s an old story.
What the kanji say
十 (juu) is ten. It began as a single vertical line, and the crossbar was added later.
口 (kuchi) is a mouth, one of the oldest pictures among the kanji.
Where it really comes from
The ten-mouths story is more than a memory trick: it’s the traditional explanation. The Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese dictionary from around 100 CE, analyses 古 as 十 and 口, “knowing the words of the past”. Xu Xuan, a scholar who edited the Shuowen in the tenth century, spelled it out: what ten mouths have passed down is the words of the past.
Modern scholars have other ideas. One view reads the top of the oldest forms as a shield, with an original meaning of “solid” (now written 固, as in 固い, katai, hard), and treats “old” as a borrowing for the sound. Another sees food being spat out, which would make 古 the ancestor of 苦, bitter. Nobody knows for sure, so the ten mouths are as good a picture as any.
古 also hides inside other kanji, usually as a sound hint read ko or ku: 固 (ko), hard, 苦 (ku), bitter, 湖 (ko), a lake, and 枯 (ko), to wither.
How to use it
この建物はとても古いです。
Kono tatemono wa totemo furui desu.
This building is very old.
昨日、古い友達に会いました。
Kinou, furui tomodachi ni aimashita.
I met an old friend yesterday.
中古の車を買いました。
Chuuko no kuruma o kaimashita.
I bought a used car.
その情報はもう古いよ。
Sono jouhou wa mou furui yo.
That information is out of date.
- 古い is for things, not people. For an elderly person, say お年寄り (otoshiyori), or 年をとった (toshi o totta), “who has grown old”. Calling a person 古い sounds like you’re calling them out of date.
- 古い友達 (furui tomodachi) is an old friend in the English sense: someone you’ve known for a long time.
- 中古 (chuuko) means second-hand: 中古車 (chuukosha) is a used car, and 中古品 (chuukohin) are used goods.
- In compound words it’s こ (ko): 古代 (kodai), ancient times, and 古都 (koto), an old capital, as Kyoto and Nara are often called.
Words with the same kanji
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 古い | furui | old |
| 中古 | chuuko | second-hand, used |
| 古着 | furugi | second-hand clothes |
| 古本 | furuhon | second-hand book |
| 古代 | kodai | ancient times |
| 稽古 | keiko | practice, training (in judo, tea ceremony and other arts) |
Remember it
Ten mouths in a row, each passing the same story along. By the tenth mouth (十 over 口), the story is 古: old.
The kanji in this lesson
Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.