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上游

Mandarin · pinyin shàng yóu

upper reaches (of a river)
upper level
upper echelon
upstream

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Characters in this entry

上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
游: yóu · to swim; float, drift; wander, roam

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2 · shang4 you2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

soeng6 jau4

Cantonese word readings for 上游. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

upper reaches; upstream portion of a river
(figuratively) favourable position; advantage; edge
(figuratively) (one's) superior; superordinate
(open-source software) upstream

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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