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复古 (fù gǔ) — to revive old styles, to go retro

Definition

A verb (often used as an adjective) meaning to revive or imitate older styles, especially in fashion and design. In a 把 construction it takes 复一次古 as a separable verb to mean 'go retro once'.

verb
to revive old stylesto go retro

Examples

  • 复古。
    Jīn nián liú xíng fù gǔ fēng gé de yī fu.
    This year, retro-style clothing is in fashion.
  • ，。
    Tā fù le yí cì gǔ, bǎ jiā lǐ zhuāng xiū chéng lǎo shàng hǎi de yàng zi.
    He went retro once and decorated his home in old Shanghai style.
  • 复古。
    Zhè jiā kā fēi guǎn de fù gǔ shè jì hěn shòu huān yíng.
    The retro design of this café is very popular.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

复fùrevive
古gǔancient past

复 means revive and 古 means ancient past, so the word means reviving old styles or returning to the past.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
复
复fù復fù
Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Open 复 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

One reading of 古 sees a shield-like shape above an open mark, showing strength and firmness. Another sees a person spitting out bad-tasting food.

Open 古 →
Appears in
History

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