Dictionary › 昨

昨

zuó

Old HSK 1 HSK 3.0 character level 1 Character

What 昨 means

1. yesterday

Example sentences

• 我是昨天来的
  I arrived yesterday.
• 昨晚是满月。
  Zuówǎn shì mǎnyuè.
  Last night there was a full moon.
• 昨天是多云。
  Zuótiān shì duōyún.
  It was cloudy yesterday.
• 我昨天感冒了
  I caught a cold yesterday.
• 我昨天很忙。
  I was busy yesterday.
• 昨天下雨了。
  It rained yesterday.

Words starting with 昨

• 昨天zuó tiānyesterday
• 昨晚zuó wǎnyesterday evening; last night
• 昨日zuó rìyesterday
• 昨夜zuó yèlast night
• 昨儿zuó r(colloquial) yesterday
• 昨儿个zuó r ge(colloquial) yesterday

Characters built on 乍

These share the phonetic component 乍 (zhà), which is why their readings rhyme. Learning them as a family is far cheaper than learning them one at a time.

• 作zuòto do; to engage in; to write; to compose; to pretend; to feign
• 祚zuòblessing; the throne
• 酢zuòtoast to host by guest
• 怍zuòashamed
• 胙zuòto grant or bestow; sacrificial flesh offered to the gods (old); blessing
• 阼zuòsteps leading to the eastern door

Characters that look like 昨

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 称chēngto weigh; to state; to name
• 玲líng(onomatopoeia) ting-a-ling (in compounds such as 玎玲 or 玲珑); tinkling of gem-pendants
• 桦huà(botany) birch (genus Betula)
• 砷shēnarsenic (chemistry)
• 杵chǔpestle; to poke
• 栉zhìcomb; to comb; to weed out

Sounds the same

Read zuó, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 琢used in 琢磨; Taiwan pr. zhuó
• 捽to seize; Taiwan pr. zú
• 椊to fit a handle into a socket; a plug or cork
• 筰cable

Where 昨 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 1 Characters · Set 20 (HSK 1), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 1 word, with the rest of its level.
• How characters are built from components.
• How to learn Chinese characters.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read zuó correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.