What does the kanji 上 mean?

The kanji 上 (ue) means "above, up". It is a JLPT N5 character.

"ue" is written with the kanji 上, meaning "above, up". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) じょう (jō), しょう (shō), しゃん (shan), kunyomi (native Japanese) うえ (ue), うわ (uwa), かみ (kami), あげる (ageru), のぼる (noboru). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 上?

Write 上 ("above") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 上?

上 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) じょう (jō), しょう (shō), しゃん (shan), kunyomi (native Japanese) うえ (ue), うわ (uwa), かみ (kami), あげる (ageru), のぼる (noboru).

上“above” Kanjiue / jō

JLPT N5

How to write 上

上 (above) kanji stroke order diagram with numbered strokes

Meaning and readings

Meaning

above, up

Onyomi (音読み)

じょう jō
しょう shō
しゃん shan

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

うえ ue
うわ uwa
かみ kami
あ（げる） a(geru)
のぼ（る） nobo(ru)

Japanese reading

Practice 上 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

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Example sentences using 上

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

マントルピースの上うえにあるよ。
It's on the mantelpiece.
上 (うえ)
JP#195131bybunbukuEN#32305byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
どうぞお上あがりください。
Help yourself, please.
上がり (あがり)
JP#201345bysmall_snowEN#38534byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
スーザンはわたしより２つ年上としうえだ。
Susan is two years my senior.
年上 (としうえ)
JP#215105bybunbukuEN#52401byJesseCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project

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Read 上 in a story

Short Japanese comics written so that every word in them is JLPT N5. One of them teaches this character — the match is on the words an episode teaches, not every character in its dialogue.