CANTONESE ↔ ENGLISH · CC-CANTO

上

Cantonese · source Jyutpingsoeng5#

8. to climb 9. to get onto 10. to go up 11. to attend (class or university) 12. to leave for 13. to install 14. to tighten 15. to paint; to apply; to smear 16. when used after a verb, it is used to represent that the action is either taking place or has happened 17. slang for having sex with a woman 18. (terminology of playing mahjong) the call for making a meld of three suited tiles in sequence

Cantonese · source Jyutpingsoeng6#

About these definitions

Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.

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Reading & tones

soeng55 · low rising

soeng66 · low level

Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.

Tone difference from Unihan

上 is read soeng5 here; Unihan’s citation reading is soeng6. Same syllable, different tone across these source readings. CC-Canto also lists 上 soeng5 as its own entry.

Computed by zimai: each syllable of the CC-Canto word reading is compared with Unihan 17.0.0 kCantonese for its character. The comparison does not say why a reading differs (a changed tone, 變音, a reading tied to one meaning, or a source variant).

Same syllable, six tones

soeng相soeng1each other 想soeng2to thinksoeng3—常soeng4always 绱soeng5上soeng6on top

Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.

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Written characters

上

Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.

Cantonese characters and the Mandarin bridge ↗

Mandarin comparison · separate source entries

CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:

上 shǎng CC-CEDICT · Mandarinused in 上聲 shǎng shēng
上 shàng CC-CEDICT · Mandarin(bound form) up; upper; above; previous; first (of multiple parts); to climb; to get onto; to go up; to attend (class or university); (directional complement) up; (noun suffix) on; above

A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.

CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: shang4. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.

Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 30 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

soeng5 · soeng6

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

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

character · Etymology 1

upper part; high position; up
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) emperor
on; above
superior; senior; top; uppermost; the highest level
preceding; previous; last; former
first of several (usually two or three) partitions
within; in; from the standpoint of; according to
(Hokkien, Teochew) most; extremely

character · Etymology 1

to go up; to ascend
to charge; to advance
to go to; to leave for (a place) (usually to a more developed place)
to board; to get on
to serve; to present; to offer
to attend (class, work)
to enter (a field); to appear (on stage, TV)
to fit; to install; to apply
to screw; to tighten, to twist
(colloquial) short for 上線 (“to go online”)
to connect to; browse (a website)
(Cantonese) to go north
(Min) to pull upwards or hang with a rope
(Southern Min) to grow and attach
(Xiamen Hokkien) to pile up
(vulgar, usually of a male) to fuck; to have intercourse (usually with a female)
Particle following verbs, indicating direction or achievement.
7th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "ascension" (𝌌)
(mahjong, Cantonese) chow; to call a discarded tile to produce a chow

character · Etymology 1

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

character · Etymology 2

(music) Kunqu gongche notation for the note do (1).
(music) Cantonese opera gongche notation for the note do (1).

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

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