yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements
古

古 gǔ

“old, classic, ancient”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese gu2. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Cobalt

钅 metal → solid metal
+
古 gǔ
=
钴 gǔ · Co 27

Transliterates syllable 1 of co·balt: cobalt → gǔ.

The element keeps the component’s reading exactly.