昔 meaning and stroke order
Past, former; ancient
How to write 昔, stroke by stroke
8 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 昔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- former times
- the past
- Taiwan pr. [xi2]
How 昔 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Twenty 廿 days ago 日.
Radical: 日 (sun), shared by 116 characters on this site.
How to remember 昔
昔 stacks 廿 (niàn, twenty) on top of 日 (rì, day). Think of it as twenty days ago, a time already in the past.
昔 is mostly literary and appears in set words like 昔日 (xīrì, former days) and 往昔 (wǎngxī, the past) rather than on its own. Example: 昔日的朋友 (xīrì de péngyou) friends from the old days. In everyday speech you will also meet it in 奶昔 (nǎixī, milkshake), where it simply stands for the sound of English "shake".
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 昔 with 惜 (xī, to cherish) and 借 (jiè, to borrow), which both contain 昔 plus an extra radical. Also note the top part is 廿 with two vertical strokes joined by a horizontal line, not 艹.
Common words with 昔
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
昔 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 昔
Learning 昔 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 昔
How many strokes are in 昔?
昔 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 昔 mean?
昔 (xī) means past, former; ancient. A common word with it is 昔日 (xīrì), meaning "former days; in the past".
How do you pronounce 昔?
昔 is pronounced xī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 昔?
The radical of 昔 is 日, which carries the idea of "sun". Dictionaries list 昔 under this radical.
Is 昔 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 昔 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 奶昔 mean milkshake if 昔 means the past?
In 奶昔 the character is used only for its sound. It was borrowed from English "shake" through Cantonese, where 昔 is read sik1. The meaning "past" plays no role here.
Can I say 昔 by itself to mean "in the past"?
Not usually in modern speech. Use 以前 (yǐqián) or 过去 (guòqù) in conversation, and save 昔日 or 往昔 for writing or a more formal tone.