漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence
上: above, up
卜 and 一 carry the meaning
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Eight readings, and the words that use each
ジョウjou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 上下するじょうげするgo up and down
- 頂上ちょうじょうsummit
- 以上いじょうmore than, above
ショウshou · on'yomi
- 上人しょうにんpriest
うえue · kun'yomi · on its own
- 上うえabove, on top, upper part of
- 目上めうえsuperior(s)
うわ-uwa- · kun'yomi
- 上回るうわまわるexceed
かみkami · kun'yomi
- 川上かわかみupper reaches of a river
あげるageru · kun'yomi
- 上げるあげるraise [v.t.]
あがるagaru · kun'yomi
- 上がるあがるrise, climb up [v.i.]
のぼるnoboru · kun'yomi
- 上るのぼるrise, climb up [v.i.]
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 上手じょうずskillful
Also read シャン, -うえ, -あげる, -あがる, あがり, -あがり, のぼり, のぼせる, のぼす, たてまつる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogram (指事)
Short horizontal above long arc (contrast 下).
Source: Wiktionary, 上 (rev. 93626463), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Everything begins with one. This radical is the first strike of the brush that defines the horizon, the first step of a long journey, and the very foundation of the mathematical world.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · shàng
Same form: 上 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 上 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 上 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin shàng most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.