在汉语里，“故”是一个形声字，最早见于商朝金文时代。它的本义是“缘故、原因”，后来引申出了多种含义。
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”两部分组成，其中“古”表示旧事、陈迹，而“攴”则表示旧事、陈迹得以流传必有原因。如今，“故”字有多种用法。它可以表示意外或不幸的事；也可以表示旧的、过去的事物；还可以作为连词，表示因果关系。
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.
在日常的口语中，“故”字最常用的意思就是“原因、缘故”。比如我们常说的“事故的原因”，就是指导致事故发生的那个因素。它还经常用来表示“旧的、以前的”，比如“故乡”，就是指人们小时候生活过的地方，“故事”，是过去发生的事情，充满了回忆和感情。
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 "故乡" (hometown), referring to the place where someone grew up, and "故事" (story), which refers to past events full of memories and emotions.
