旧 (jiù) · old; used; worn

Meanings

1 old; used; worn
2 former; previous; past

Characters

旧

jiù

old; used; former

Examples

HSK 1

旧的不去，新的不来。

Jiù de bú qù, xīn de bù lái.

Out with the old, in with the new.

HSK 3

他回到了旧地方。

Tā huídào le jiù dìfang.

He returned to the old place.

HSK 5

我把旧书捐了。

Wǒ bǎ jiù shū juān le.

I donated the old books.

Tips

usage

旧 vs 老: 旧 means old in the sense of 'worn/outdated/former' (旧衣服 old clothes). 老 means old in age (老人 elderly person) or experienced.

usage

旧 is the opposite of 新 (new). Common pairs: 新旧 (new and old), 旧的 (the old one).

Components

radical

日 rì

sun; day

The sun radical indexes the character, drawn as a small framed box with a central crossbar. Originally 舊 carried 臼 (mortar) underneath; modern simplified silhouette has converged on the 日 pattern, giving learners a familiar anchor when reading 'old, former'.

ideograph

丨 gǔn

vertical stroke

An abstract vertical marker on the left, repurposed in the simplified form as a stand-in for the much fuller traditional left side of 舊 (an owl-and-mortar compound). It functions here as a shape placeholder rather than a semantic carrier.