昨 (zuó) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

昨

zuó[zuo2]Tone 2

yesterday

HSK 1

Guru Deep Dive

English · yesterday

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (日) is narrower and occupies about one-third of the space, while the right component (乍) is wider and dominates the remaining two-thirds, keeping the entire character balanced within an imaginary square.

1. Meaning

yesterday

past daysrecently

noun / time wordneutral / standard#time#calendar

Sample Usage

昨天我去学校了。
zuótiān wǒ qù xuéxiào le.
I went to school yesterday.
昨天天气很好。
zuótiān tiānqì hěn hǎo.
The weather was very good yesterday.

2. Sound

/[t͡su̯ɔ³⁵]/Tone: 35

昨

zuózuo2

´(35)

=zuó

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Dental Sibilant

Sounds like: ts sound as in 'cats' but voiced as a dental affricate

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff (sounds like 'ds' in English 'cards'). Tissue still.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touching the back of the upper teeth, releasing gently into an affricate.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -uo rhymes with 'wore' without the r

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'waw'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises from mid to high (35), exactly like asking 'Really?' in English with an upward inflection.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, the rising pitch may slightly adjust or truncate depending on speech tempo, but standard 35 contour applies.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the initial 'zu-' with 'ju-' or 'chu-', or failing to lift the Tone 2 pitch high enough, making it sound flat.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Start at a medium level in your vocal range and sweep your hand upward sharply toward the ceiling, mimicking a rising question mark.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

4. Components

Radical 日 · Sun Radical (sun, day, time)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 日 (Indicates the semantic field of time, specifically a 'day'.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 乍 (original sound: zhà / zuó phonetic clue for sudden or past events.)

The sun (日) has suddenly (乍) passed by, which signifies that a full day has already gone into the past—meaning 'yesterday'.

日 Sun / day (semantic time clue)
乍 Suddenly / quick transition (phonetic and conceptual clue)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

20· Phonetic Root: 乍 (zhà)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined the sun radical (日) representing a day with 乍 (zhà), which originally suggested suddenness or something having just happened, to denote the day that has just elapsed.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient times meaning 'the day just passed', it directly generalized into the modern word for 'yesterday'.

In classical Chinese, it was frequently used alongside terms for dawn and dusk to chronicle daily events.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: サク

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

작

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Think of the sun (日) suddenly (乍) setting and disappearing behind the horizon—that was yesterday!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

炸

zhàto fry / explodeReplaces the time radical with fire (火), indicating exploding heat.

作

zuòto do / makeReplaces the sun radical with the person radical (亻), meaning human action.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

作(zuò)

‘Yesterday’ (昨) belongs to the Sun/Time family (日), whereas ‘to do/make’ (作) belongs to the Person family (亻).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

[___]我去图书馆借了两本书。

Clue: zuó tiān

Common Learner Pitfall

Writing the left radical as 目 (eye) instead of 日 (sun), or confusing the right component with similar looking radicals like 千.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 昨 mean when you see it in 昨天 (zuótiān)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'yesterday' using the sun radical and the phonetic component 乍?

昨zuóyesterday

Speed:

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