升
shēng HSK3

ascend, rise

Pictograph of a spoon with something inside it. Spoons are used to lift things up.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2)

Meaning (2)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyings-təŋ 1/10th of a dǒu 斗
syings-təŋ rise (v.)

說文解字

《說文》:“升,十龠也。从斗,亦象形。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

昇 shēng rise Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 升 represents the sound.

Components

日
日 Meaning component
rì sun
升
升 SoundMeaning component
shēng ascend, rise

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhanghljɯŋ
Unicodeshiəng

說文解字

《說文新附》:“昇,日上也。从日,升聲。古只用升。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

陞 shēng rise Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 and 土 represent the meaning while 升 represents the sound.

Components

阝
阝 Meaning component
fù hill, place
升
升 SoundMeaning component
shēng ascend, rise
土
土 Meaning component
tǔ earth

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyings-təŋ rise (v.)

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart