Chinese

Noun

昨日

1. (literary or dialectal) yesterday

Synonyms

Pronunciation 2

Alternative forms

• 佐日

Noun

昨日

1. (Min) day before yesterday

   𪜶兩翁仔某昨日就出國去𨑨迌矣。 [Min Nan, trad.]

   𪜶两翁仔某昨日就出国去𨑨迌矣。 [Min Nan, simp.]

   In nn̄g ang-á-bó͘ cho̍h--ji̍t tō chhut-kok khì chhit-thô--ah. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   The husband and wife went out of the country the day before yesterday to play.

Japanese

Etymology 1

/ki no pu/ → /kinoɸu/ → */kinowu/ → /kinou/ → /kinoː/

From Old Japanese. The initial ki is unclear, but is likely the same ki element that appears in other words pertaining to the past. This may be related to the now-obsolete auxiliary verb き ‎(ki) indicating the recollective past -- see けり ‎(keri). The middle no appears to be the regular genitive particle の ‎(no). The final pu is an apophonic form of 日 ‎(hi, “day”).^[1]

The kanji are an example of jukujikun.

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) きの​う [kìnóꜜò] (Nakadaka - [2])^[2][3][4]as a noun
• (Tokyo) きのう [kìnóó] (Heiban - [0])^[3][4]as an adverb
• IPA^(key): [kʲĩno̞ː]

Noun

昨日 ‎(hiragana きのう, romaji kinō, historical hiragana きのふ)

1. yesterday

   昨日 (きのう)、東京 (とうきょう)は曇 (くも)りでしたか。

   Kinō, Tōkyō wa kumori deshita ka.

   Was it cloudy in Tokyo yesterday?

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese compound 昨日 ‎(dzak nyit, literally “yesterday + day ”). Compare modern Cantonese reading zok⁶ jat⁶.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) さく​じつ [sàkúꜜjìtsù] (Nakadaka - [2])^[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [sa̠kɯᵝd͡ʑit͡sɯᵝ]

Noun

昨日 ‎(hiragana さくじつ, romaji sakujitsu)

1. yesterday

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese. The initial ki is unclear, but is likely the same ki element that appears in other words pertaining to the past. This may be related to the now-obsolete auxiliary verb き ‎(ki) indicating the recollective past -- see けり ‎(keri). The final so is also unclear, but is probably the same as the final zo in 去年 (こぞ) ‎(kozo).^[1]

This may have been read as kizo in Old Japanese.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• IPA^(key): [kʲiso̞]

Noun

昨日 ‎(hiragana きそ, romaji kiso)

1. last night
2. yesterday

Coordinate terms

References

1. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. 1 2 3 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
4. 1 2 3 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0