昔日 (xī rì) — former days; in the past | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Written, somewhat literary way to say 'former days' or 'the past.' Stronger and more formal than 以前, and focused on bygone times as a whole, similar to 从前.

noun

former daysin the past

Examples

昔日，。
Zhè lǐ xī rì shì yí piàn tián yě, rú jīn biàn chéng le gāo lóu.
This was a field in former days; now it has become tall buildings.
昔日，，。
xī rì De hǎo péng you xiāng jù, tán xiào fēng shēng, zhēn ràng rén huái niàn.
When friends gathered in the past, chatting and laughing freely, it truly makes one nostalgic.
昔日，。
Tā xī rì shì yí wèi zhù míng de huà jiā, rú jīn hěn shǎo yǒu rén zhī dào tā le.
He was a famous painter in former days; now few people know him.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

昔 gives the sense of past and 日 gives days, so together they mean former days.

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.

龷日昔

Meaning part形符xíngfú

日日rìsun; day

Sound part声符shēngfú

龷

龷龷昔xī

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The lower 日 is a sun/day, pointing to past days; the upper 龷 gives the sound and was first drawn as a wrinkled or intertwined texture.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Time (Abstract)

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