昔昔

Chinese

		past; former	past; former
simp. and trad. (昔昔)		昔	昔

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): xīxī, xíxí

(Zhuyin): ㄒㄧㄒㄧ, ㄒㄧˊ ㄒㄧˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): sik¹ sik¹

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Mainland)
  - Hanyu Pinyin: xīxī
  - Zhuyin: ㄒㄧㄒㄧ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: sisi
  - Wade–Giles: hsi¹-hsi¹
  - Yale: syī-syī
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shishi
  - Palladius: сиси (sisi)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi⁵⁵ ɕi⁵⁵/
  - Homophones:
    [Show/Hide]
    ^edit
    ^edit
    兮兮
    嘻嘻
    夕夕
    昔昔
    栖栖
    西溪
    西西
    恓恓
    淅淅
- (Standard Chinese, Taiwan)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: xíxí
  - Zhuyin: ㄒㄧˊ ㄒㄧˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: sísí
  - Wade–Giles: hsi²-hsi²
  - Yale: syí-syí
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shyishyi
  - Palladius: сиси (sisi)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɕi³⁵ ɕi³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: sik¹ sik¹
  - Yale: sīk sīk
  - Cantonese Pinyin: sik⁷ sik⁷
  - Guangdong Romanization: xig¹ xig¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɪk̚⁵ sɪk̚⁵/

Noun

昔昔

(literary) every night

Japanese

Kanji in this term
昔	昔
むかし Grade: 3	むかし Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
昔々

Etymology

Reduplication of 昔(むかし) (mukashi, “the past, old times”).^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) むかしむかし [mùkáshí múkáshí] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
IPA^(key): [mɯ̟ka̠ɕi mɯ̟ka̠ɕi]

Noun

昔(むかし)昔(むかし) • (mukashi mukashi)

ancient times, a very long time ago
昔昔(むかしむかし)、遠(とお)いところに…
mukashi mukashi, tōi tokoro ni…
a long time ago in a place far away…

Usage notes

When used to start a fairy tale or other story, mukashi mukashi is often glossed as once upon a time.

Synonyms

大昔(おおむかし) (ōmukashi)

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN