在漢語里，「故」是一個形聲字，最早見於商朝金文時代。它的本義是「緣故、原因」，後來引申出了多種含義。
in chinese, the character "故" (gu) is a pictophonetic character, first appearing in the bronze inscriptions of the shang dynasty. its original meaning is "reason" or "cause", but over time, it has developed multiple meanings.
「故」字的字形由「古」和「攴」兩部分組成，其中「古」表示舊事、陳跡，而「攴」則表示舊事、陳跡得以流傳必有原因。如今，「故」字有多種用法。它可以表示意外或不幸的事；也可以表示舊的、過去的事物；還可以作為連詞，表示因果關係。
the character "故" consists of two parts: "古", which represents something old or a relic, and "攴", which implies that there must be a reason for something old or a relic to be passed down. today, the character "故" has many different uses. it can refer to unexpected or unfortunate events, represent old or past things, or be used as a conjunction to indicate causality.
在日常的口語中，「故」字最常用的意思就是「原因、緣故」。比如我們常說的「事故的原因」，就是指導致事故發生的那個因素。它還經常用來表示「舊的、以前的」，比如「故鄉」，就是指人們小時候生活過的地方，「故事」，是過去發生的事情，充滿了回憶和感情。
in everyday speech, the most common meaning of "故" is "reason" or "cause". for example, the phrase "事故的原因" (the cause of the accident) refers to the factor that led to the incident. it is also frequently used to describe something "old" or "former", such as in the term "故鄉" (hometown), referring to the place where someone grew up, and "故事" (story), which refers to past events full of memories and emotions.
