去

去 U+53BB, 去 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-53BB ← 厺 [U+53BA] CJK Unified Ideographs 厼 → [U+53BC]

Stroke order

Stroke order

去 (Kangxi radical 28, 厶+3, 5 strokes, cangjie input 土戈 (GI), four-corner 4073₁, composition ⿱土厶)

• 佉, 刦, 刼, 劫, 却, 厾, 𠫾, 𠬃, 𠬉, 𠬒, 𠬕, 𠬖, 弆, 怯, 抾, 朅, 法, 珐, 盍, 砝, 祛, 紶(𬘛), 罢, 䒧, 𧉧, 𨚫, 鉣, 阹, 魼(𱇜), 麮(𱋋), 鼁(𱋿)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 164, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3070
• Dae Jaweon: page 372, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 384, character 8
• Unihan data for U+53BB

simp. and trad.		去
alternative forms		㚎 弆 厺 克 dialectal

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 大 (“man”) + 口 (“mouth, object”). Top figure simplified to 土, unrelated to 士 (“scholar, gentleman”), while bottom simplified to 厶. There are various interpretations of the combination of “man” and “mouth, object”. One is that the ideograph represented a man with a hole marked in his crotch, with the idea of “anus” (i.e. getting rid of) (Schuessler, 2007). Another is that it represented a man departing from a cave or city.

Alternatively, it may be the original character of 呿 (OC *kʰal, *kʰas, *kʰab, “to open one's mouth”), the meaning given by the combination of 大 (“big”) and 口 (“mouth”). The meaning “to depart” would be an extension of the meaning “to open one's mouth”, as the lips depart from each other when one's mouth is open.

Shuowen Jiezi interprets the character as a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰaʔ, *kʰas) : semantic 大 (“man”) + phonetic 𠙴 ().

In addition, 去 is also the original character of 盍 (OC *ɡaːb, “to cover”). The 大 could be a cover on top of an object 口.

The man on top is simplified as 土 as in 赤 and 走 (< 𧺆).

There were two pronunciations in Middle Chinese. The rising tone pronunciation originally meant “to put away, to eliminate” (causative of “to go away”), and the falling tone “to go away, to leave, to depart” (anticausative). The merger of the two pronunciations already happened in Old Chinese and most extant dialects do not observe this distinction now.

This word is of Sino-Tibetan origin with the basic meaning of "to get rid of". Compare Tibetan སྐྱག (skyag, “to spend, to lay out; dung, excrement”), རྐྱག (rkyag, “dirt, excrement”), Burmese ကျ (kya., “to fall, to become low”), ချ (hkya., “to put down, to bring down, to lower”).

去

1. to leave; to depart from

   去世  ―  qùshì  ―  to pass away

   • 鳥乃去矣，后稷呱矣。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     鸟乃去矣，后稷呱矣。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Niǎo nǎi qù yǐ, Hòujì guā yǐ. [Pinyin]

     When the bird went away, Hou-ji began to wail.

   • 無幾何也，去寡人而行。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     无几何也，去寡人而行。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Wú jǐhé yě, qù guǎrén ér xíng. [Pinyin]

     In a little time, however, he left me and went away.

2. to go to; to leave for

   你去哪兒？／你去哪儿？  ―  Nǐ qù nǎr?  ―  Where are you going?

   Antonym: 來／来 (lái)

3. (before or after a verb) to go in order to do something

   他到辦公室去請假。 [MSC, trad.]
   他到办公室去请假。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā dào bàngōngshì qù qǐngjià. [Pinyin]

   He went to the office to ask for leave.

   他去釣魚了，而沒去打網球。 [MSC, trad.]
   他去钓鱼了，而没去打网球。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā qù diàoyú le, ér méi qù dǎ wǎngqiú. [Pinyin]

   He went fishing instead of playing tennis.

4. (between two verbs) to; in order to
5. Used after a verb of motion to indicate movement away from the speaker.

   下去  ―  xiàqù  ―  to go down [ant. 下來／下来 (xiàlái, “to come down”)]

   送去  ―  sòng qù  ―  to send away

6. to send; to dispatch
7. to play (a part, a character); to act
8. (euphemistic) to pass away; to die
9. last; past

   去年  ―  qùnián  ―  last year

10. 66th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "departure" (𝍇)
11. Short for 去聲／去声 (qùshēng).
12. (literary) to be separated by; to be apart by

    • 梁丘在曹邾之間，去齊八百里。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      梁丘在曹邾之间，去齐八百里。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: Commentary of Guliang, circa 206 BCE– 9 CE

      Liángqiū zài Cáo Zhū zhījiān, qù Qí bābǎi lǐ. [Pinyin]

      Liangqiu is located between Cao and Zhu, and is 800 lis from Qi.

13. (neologism) what the hell; what; damn; fuck

    我去  ―  wǒqù  ―  what the hell

去

1. to remove; to get rid of

   去掉  ―  qùdiào  ―  to remove

   脫去／脱去  ―  tuōqù  ―  to throw off

   拆去  ―  chāiqù  ―  to remove, to take off

   去蝦腸／去虾肠  ―  qù xiācháng  ―  to remove the intestines from shrimp

   牛肉去咗啲腥味之後會好食好多。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   牛肉去咗啲腥味之后会好食好多。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ngau⁴ juk⁶ heoi³ zo² di¹ sing¹ mei⁶ zi¹ hau⁶ wui⁵ hou² sik⁶ hou² do¹. [Jyutping]

   Beef tastes much better after you get rid of the rankness.

   去頭白蝦／去头白虾  ―  qùtóu báixiā  ―  headless white shrimp

   去中心化  ―  qùzhōngxīnhuà  ―  decentralization

   • 不窋末年，夏后氏政衰，去稷不務，不窋以失其官而犇戎狄之間。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     不窋末年，夏后氏政衰，去稷不务，不窋以失其官而奔戎狄之间。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Bùzhú mònián, Xiàhòushì zhèng shuāi, qù jì bù wù, Bùzhú yǐ shī qí guān ér bēn róngdí zhī jiān. [Pinyin]

     In Buzhu's later years, the Xia dynasty's government declined; so he forsook millet (agriculture) and did not serve. Buzhu, therefore, lost his offce and fled to the Rong's and Di's midst.

   • 《基於矩陣補全的自適應去雨雪算法》 [MSC, trad.]
     《基于矩阵补全的自适应去雨雪算法》 [MSC, simp.]

     From: DOI 10.19734/j.issn.1001-3695.2018.10.0854

     “jīyú jǔzhèn bǔquán de zìshìyìng qùyǔxuě suànfǎ” [Pinyin]

     "Adaptive deraining and desnowing algorithm based on matrix completion"

2. to discard

For pronunciation and definitions of 去 – see 弆 (“to hoard, to hide away”). (This character is a variant form of 弆).

For pronunciation and definitions of 去 – see 驅 (“to drive; to spur; to run quickly; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 驅).

The tones (of Chinese) in Mandarin · 聲調／声调 (shēngdiào) (layout · text)
	平仄 (píngzè)		平 (píng) 平聲／平声 (píngshēng)		仄 (zè) 仄聲／仄声 (zèshēng)
	平上去入 (píngshǎngqùrù) 四聲／四声 (sìshēng)		平 (píng) 平聲／平声 (píngshēng)		上 (shǎng) 上聲／上声 (shǎngshēng)		去 (qù) 去聲／去声 (qùshēng)		入 (rù) 入聲／入声 (rùshēng)
標調方法／标调方法 (biāodiào fāngfǎ) 標調法／标调法	四角標調法／四角标调法		꜀◌		꜂◌		◌꜄		◌꜆
	[Term?]		◌〪		◌〫		◌〬		◌〭
	傍點／傍点		∅		◌〮		◌〯		∅
	四聲八調／四声八调		陰平／阴平 (yīnpíng)	陽平／阳平 (yángpíng)	陰上／阴上 (yīnshǎng)	陽上／阳上 (yángshǎng)	陰去／阴去 (yīnqù)	陽去／阳去 (yángqù)	陰入／阴入 (yīnrù)	陽入／阳入 (yángrù)
	陰／阴 (yīn)	陽／阳 (yáng)
標調方法／标调方法 (biāodiào fāngfǎ) 標調法／标调法	四角標調法／四角标调法		꜀◌	꜁◌	꜂◌	꜃◌	◌꜄	◌꜅	◌꜆	◌꜇

The tones (of Standard Mandarin) in Mandarin · 聲調／声调 (shēngdiào) (layout · text)
四聲／四声 (sìshēng)	陰平／阴平 (yīnpíng) 一聲／一声		陽平／阳平 (yángpíng) 二聲／二声 (èrshēng)		上聲／上声 (shǎngshēng) 三聲／三声 (sānshēng)		去聲／去声 (qùshēng) 四聲／四声 (sìshēng)		輕聲／轻声 (qīngshēng)

• “去”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #1405”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(Third grade kyōiku kanji)

1. to leave, to go away
2. past

• Go-on: こ (ko, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: きょ (kyo, Jōyō)
• Kun: さる (saru, 去る, Jōyō)、いぬ (inu, 去ぬ)、のぞく (nozoku, 去く)、ゆく (yuku, 去く)

• 落(お)ちる (ochiru)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kʌ̹]
• Phonetic hangul: [거]

Wikisource

去 (eumhun 갈 거 (gal geo))

1. hanja form^? of 거 (“to leave; to go away”)

• 과거 (過去, gwageo, “the past”)

去: Hán Nôm readings: khứ, khử^[1], khu^[2]

1. (literary) Chữ Hán form of khứ (“to leave, to go”).
2. Chữ Hán form of khử (“to remove”).

• quá khứ (過去, “the past”)
• trừ khử (除去, “to eliminate”)
• khử trùng (去蟲, “to disinfect, to decontaminate”)

• https://web.archive.org/web/20210805050120/http://www.nomfoundation.org/common/nom_details.php?codepoint=53bb&img=1&uiLang=vn