HSK 1 · Time

上午 shàngwǔ “morning (forenoon)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 上午 means

  1. morning (forenoon)
  2. morning

How to say 上午

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale上shàng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale午wǔ3rd tone, dipping

上午 in a sentence

  1. 她上午学了英语。

    Tā shàngwǔ xué le Yīngyǔ.

    She studied English this morning.

    Sentence #1517482 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你明天上午吃什么？

    Nǐ míngtiān shàngwǔ chī shénme?

    What are you having to eat tomorrow morning?

    Sentence #10966840 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我上午慢跑。

    Wǒ shàngwǔ mànpǎo.

    I go jogging in the morning.

    Sentence #3695646 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 上午 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.

The character 午 (wǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
午wǔ7th earthly branch: 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 干dry · gān

Memory aidDrawn from a pestle. It was borrowed for the hour around noon, as in 中午 (zhōngwǔ) “midday”.

How to write 上午

上 3 strokes · 午 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 上午

Words with 上

上shàng · up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

Words with 午

下午xiàwǔ · afternoon中午zhōngwǔ · noon午饭wǔfàn · lunch端午节Duānwǔjié · Dragon Boat Festival

More words: Time

号hào · number年nián · year时候shíhou · time下午xiàwǔ · afternoon月yuè · month星期xīngqī · week永远yǒngyuǎn · forever暂时zànshí · temporary

FAQs

上午 (shàngwǔ) means “morning (forenoon)” or “morning”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it shàngwǔ: shàng with a 4th tone, then wǔ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 上午 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shangwu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 上午 from the suggestions. Typing shangwu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
上午 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.