HSK 1 · Directions

上 shàng “up” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 上 means

  1. up, on, above
  2. (bound form) up
  3. upper
  4. previous
  5. first (of multiple parts)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to climb
  • to get onto
  • to go up
  • to attend (class or university)
  • (directional complement) up
  • (noun suffix) on

How to say 上

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale上shàng4th tone, falling

上 in a sentence

  1. 桌子上的书是谁的？

    Zhuōzi shàng de shū shì shéi de?

    Whose book is this on the desk?

    Sentence #1933280 from Tatoeba

  2. 爱上: to fall in love with

    我爱上了你。

    Wǒ ài shàng le nǐ.

    I fell in love with you.

    Sentence #762029 from Tatoeba

How 上 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 上 (shàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
上shàngup; upper; above; previous
  • ⺊divination form of 卜 · bǔ
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA short stroke above the line: up, on top.

How to write 上

上 3 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

上 (shàng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 上 (shàng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 上

Words with 上

上午shàngwǔ · morning (forenoon)上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school早上zǎoshang · morning晚上wǎnshang · evening上班shàngbān · to go to work上面shàngmiàn · above路上lùshang · on the road上来shànglái · to come up上去shàngqù · to go up

More words: Places & Directions

学校xuéxiào · school饭店fàndiàn · restaurant商店shāngdiàn · shop医院yīyuàn · hospital下xià · down里lǐ · inside前面qiánmiàn · front后面hòumiàn · back

FAQs

上 (shàng) means “up, on, above” or “(bound form) up”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it shàng: shàng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 上 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 上 from the suggestions. Typing shang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
上 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.