The kanji 昔 むかし primarily means "past," "old times," or "long ago." It evokes a sense of history, the distant past, and things that happened in the bygone era.

・On-yomi (音読み): セキ (seki) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): むかし (mukashi)

⚫︎昔話 Translation: Folktale; old story; legend. ⚫︎昔のこと Translation: Things of the past; past events. ⚫︎昔々 Translation: Once upon a time; long, long ago.

The kanji 昔 むかし is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字 けいせいもじ). The upper part 艹 (くさかんむり - grass radical) is thought to be derived from the character 艸, which originally depicted a type of plant. The lower part 昔 (せき) on its own acts as a phonetic component, representing the sound "seki". The character originally had the meaning related to "days passed" or "a long time ago". The meaning then shifted to the more generalized meaning of "past" or "old times."