昨 (zuó): yesterday
昨 (zuó) is a Chinese character meaning “yesterday.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 日 (semantic) and 乍 (phonetic). It ranks #1466 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 昨 day. Its radical form 日 (sun) appears in many related characters such as 日 (rì, sun, day), 早 (zǎo, early, morning), 时 (shí, time, hour).
Definitions
- yesterday
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 昨 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 昨
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 昨晚noun | zuó wǎn | yesterday evening |
| 昨夜noun | zuó yè | last night |
| 昨日noun | zuó rì | yesterday |
| 昨儿个noun | zuó r ge | (coll.) yesterday |
| 昨儿noun | zuó r | (coll.) yesterday |
昨 appears in 6 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 昨 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
昨天提交的方案已经通过审核，可以开始执行了。
Zuótiān tíjiāo de fāng'àn yǐjīng tōngguò shěnhé, kěyǐ kāishǐ zhíxíng le.
The proposal submitted yesterday has been approved and can now be implemented.
上海客“扑机票”昨夜来港买豪宅 老业主捱眼瞓签约 终午夜前...
shàng hǎi kè pū jī piào zuó yè lái gǎng mǎi háo zhái lǎo yè zhǔ 捱 yǎn 瞓 qiān yuē zhōng wǔ yè qián . . .
Shanghai passengers "pounced on air tickets" came to Hong Kong last night to buy a luxury house, and the old owner stayed up late to sign the contract before midnight...
昨晚喝了酒,今天开车算酒驾吗?答案来了
zuó wǎn hē le jiǔ , jīn tiān kāi chē suàn jiǔ jià ma ? dā àn lái le
Did I drink last night? Does driving today count as drunk driving? Here's the answer.
昨晚喝了酒,今天开车算酒驾吗?别被“隔夜酒...
zuó wǎn hē le jiǔ , jīn tiān kāi chē suàn jiǔ jià ma ? bié bèi gé yè jiǔ . . .
Did I drink last night? Does driving today count as drunk driving? Don't fall for the "hangover" trap...
...ATSEYE彈出彈入否認健康亮紅燈 官方昨稱退團專心養病
. . . 彈 chū 彈 rù fǒu 認 jiàn kāng liàng 紅 燈 guān fāng zuó 稱 tuì 團 專 xīn 養 bìng
ATSEYE's sudden departure sparks health concerns The group officially announced yesterday that the member has left to focus on recovery.
...谷愛凌奪金後得悉外婆離世 記者會上哭說「昨晚才夢到她」
. . . gǔ 愛 líng 奪 jīn 後 dé xī wài pó 離 shì 記 zhě 會 shàng kū 說 zuó wǎn cái 夢 dào tā
... After winning the gold medal, Irene Ku cried at the press conference and said, "I dreamt of her last night".
为什么你昨晚睡不着？
Wèishénme nǐ zuówǎn shuìbuzháo?
Why couldn't you sleep last night?
你昨天早上在打网球吗？
Nǐ zuótiān zǎoshang zài dǎ wǎngqiú ma?
Were you playing tennis yesterday morning?
昨天的这个时间你在做什么呢？
Zuótiān de zhège shíjiān nǐ zài zuò shénme ne?
What were you doing about this time yesterday?
你昨天有没有打电话给他？
Nǐ zuótiān yǒuméiyǒu dǎdiànhuà gěi tā?
Did you call him up yesterday?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 日 (day) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 昨 (zuó) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 昨 and 怎?
How many strokes does 昨 have?
What is the radical of 昨?
What are the components of 昨?
What are common words containing 昨?
What characters sound the same as 昨 (zuó)?
Is 昨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 昨 with real-time feedback
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