Meaning & readings

gone, past, quit, leave, elapse, eliminate, divorce

On’yomi キョ、コ
Kun’yomi さ.る、-さ.る
Nanori

Origin

This character most likely combines two components to suggest the idea of leaving or departing. The top part, which represents earth or ground, and the bottom part together form an image of something moving away from a place—literally going past or leaving behind. Over time, this visual idea of separation or departure evolved to mean "gone," "past," or "quit." The character's shape captures the fundamental concept of moving away from a fixed point, which is why it carries meanings related to leaving, elapsing, and removing.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

5 strokes

Components

  • radical top
  • radical bottom

Common words

  • 過去 かこ the past; bygone days
  • 去る さる to leave; to go away
  • 去就 きょしゅう leaving or staying
  • 去年 きょねん last year
  • 去来 きょらい coming and going; recurring (esp. thoughts)
  • 死去 しきょ death; decease
  • 除去 じょきょ removal; getting rid of
  • 消去 しょうきょ erasure; deletion

Reference

Strokes
5
Kangxi radical
28
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#440 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+053BB