上

Stroke order

Stroke order

上 (Kangxi radical 1, 一+2, 3 strokes, cangjie input 卜一 (YM), four-corner 2110₀, composition ⿱⺊一)

• 仩, 𠮵, 圵, 𰃊, 𰛈, 𨑗, 𪱲, 𬉷, 𧘕, 𫒆, 𰽙, 𥆮, 𬨺, 𭫌, 𤼸, 𰀏, 𰀎
• 让 (Simplified from 讓)
• 𠆳, 𭆽, 䒙, 𡗶, 㫔, 𦊆, 𥬧, 𫝙, 𡒥, 𥬿, 仧, 𠑷, 卡, 𠮳, 𪥤, 尗, 忐, 㫖, 𮌈, 𬂞, 𮛅, 𣑾, 𭾴, 𨓑, 𨕭, 𨨾
• 垰, 峠, 挊, 桛, 裃, 𧧎, 鞐, 𠯡, 𠜔, 𠛯, 𦅐, 𤩋, 𢱵, 𢹟, 𢫜, 㑅, 𤨛, 𥡳

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 76, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 13
• Dae Jaweon: page 145, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 5, character 4
• Unihan data for U+4E0A

Historical forms of the character 上
Shang	Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)	Kangxi Dictionary (compiled in Qing)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Clerical script	Ming typeface
Oracle bone script j00024 j00025 j00026 j00027 j00028 j00029 j00030 Bronze inscriptions b00109 b00110 b00111 b00112 b00113 b00114 b00115 b00116 b00117 b00118 b00119 b00120 b00121 b00122 b00123 b00124 b00125 b00126 b00127 b00128 b00129 b00130 b00131 b00132 b00133 Small seal script s00008 Transcribed ancient scripts L35088 L35089 L35090 L35091 L35092 L35093 L35094 L17519 L17520 L17521 L17522 L17523 L17524 L17525 L17526 L17527 L17528 L17529
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

Ideogram (指事) : a line above another (contrast 下 (xià)) — up. Originally written as 𠄞, but changed to this form to prevent confusion with 二 (èr).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tjaŋ (“top”). Cognate with Tibetan སྟེང (steng), Tibetan ཡང་རྩེ (yang rtse, “summit; pinnacle”) (Bodman, 1980), Mizo zo (“to be high”), zah (“to respect; to revere”) (STEDT).

Shijing rimes indicate occasional level tone for pronunciation 2 (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation 1 is the exopassive of pronunciation 2 with suffix *-s, literally meaning "what has been raised" (Schuessler, 2007). The rising tone in Middle Chinese words with voiced stop initials regularly evolves into departing tone in Mandarin. Pronunciation 3 results from 叶韻 (xiéyùn), i.e. its pronunciation has been artificially changed to preserve rhymes in classical poetry.

上

1. upper part; high position; up

   Antonym: 下 (xià)

2. ^† emperor
3. on; above

   樹上／树上  ―  shùshàng  ―  on the tree

   筆在桌上。／笔在桌上。  ―  Bǐ zài zhuōshàng.  ―  The pen is on the desk.

4. superior; senior; top
5. preceding; previous; last; former

   上一年  ―  shàng yī nián  ―  last year

   上集  ―  shàng jí  ―  last episode

   上世紀／上世纪  ―  shàng shìjì  ―  last century

6. first of several (usually two or three) partitions

   Antonyms: 中, 下 (xià)

   西遊記上／西游记上  ―  Xīyóujì shàng  ―  Journey to the West I

   上古漢語和中古漢語 [MSC, trad.]
   上古汉语和中古汉语 [MSC, simp.]

   shànggǔ hànyǔ hé zhōnggǔ hànyǔ

   Old Chinese and Middle Chinese

7. within; in; from the standpoint of; according to

   在理論上／在理论上  ―  zài lǐlùn shàng  ―  according to theory

   在這個世界上／在这个世界上  ―  zài zhège shìjiè shàng  ―  in this world

   在英文上沒有相似的說法。 [MSC, trad.]
   在英文上没有相似的说法。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zài yīngwén shàng méiyǒu xiàngsì de shuōfǎ.

   There is no similar way of wording in English.

   • 人人生而自由，在尊嚴和權利上一律平等。 [MSC, trad.]
     人人生而自由，在尊严和权利上一律平等。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”

     Rénrén shēng ér zìyóu, zài zūnyán hé quánlì shàng yīlǜ píngděng.

     All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

8. (Southern Min) most; extremely

   • 衝衝衝　踏遍天下我尚勇 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
     冲冲冲　踏遍天下我尚勇 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]

     From: 2000, 伍佰, 衝衝衝

     chhiong chhiong chhiong, ta̍h piàn thian-hā góa siōng ióng [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

上

1. to go up; to ascend
2. to charge; to advance

   上啊！  ―  Shàng a!  ―  Charge!

3. to go to; to leave for (a place) (usually to a more developed place)

   上省城  ―  shàng xǐngchéng  ―  to go to the province capital

4. to board; to get on

   請上車。／请上车。  ―  Qǐng shàng chē.  ―  Please get into the car.

5. to serve; to present; to offer

   還有兩個菜沒上。 [MSC, trad.]
   还有两个菜没上。 [MSC, simp.]

   Háiyǒu liǎng ge cài méi shàng.

   There're two dishes that haven't been served.

   上筆和紙來。／上笔和纸来。  ―  Shàng bǐ hé zhǐ lái.  ―  Give me the pen and the paper.

6. to attend (class, work)

   上班  ―  shàngbān  ―  to go to work

   她上夜校。  ―  Tā shàng yèxiào.  ―  She goes to night school.

7. to enter (a field); to appear (on stage, TV)
8. to fit; to install; to apply

   上油漆  ―  shàng yóuqī  ―  to apply paint

9. to screw; to tighten, to twist
10. (colloquial) Short for 上線 (“to go online”).
11. to connect to; browse (a website)

    上谷歌  ―  shàng Gǔgē  ―  to go on Google; to google

12. (Cantonese) to go north
    • 2010, “小明上廣州”, performed by 李家仁:

    • 小明上廣州，探親友樂同遊 [Cantonese, trad.]
      小明上广州，探亲友乐同游 [Cantonese, simp.]

      siu² ming⁴ soeng⁵ gwong² zau¹, taam¹ can¹ jau⁵ lok⁶ tung⁴ jau⁴

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

13. (Min) to pull upwards or hang with a rope

    上水 [Hokkien]  ―  chhiūⁿ-chúi [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to draw water from a well

14. (Southern Min) to grow and attach

    上青苔 [Hokkien]  ―  chhiūⁿ chheⁿ-thî [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to grow moss

15. (Xiamen Hokkien) to pile up

    上貨／上货 [Hokkien]  ―  chhiūⁿ-hòe [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  to pile up goods

16. (vulgar, usually of a male) to fuck; to have intercourse (usually with a female)
17. Particle following verbs, indicating direction or achievement.

    安排上了。  ―  Ānpái shàng le.  ―  It has been arranged.

18. 7th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "ascension" (𝌌)
19. (mahjong, Cantonese) chow; to call a discarded tile to produce a chow

• When playing mahjong in Cantonese, a player may say this word as a call when forming a chowing another player's discard

上

1. (～聲) (Chinese phonetics) rising tone in Chinese phonetics