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上天 (shàng tiān) — to go up to the sky; (euphemism) to die, to pass away

Definition

上天 is a verb meaning 'to go up to the sky' literally (rockets, planes, spaceflight) and is also used euphemistically to mean 'to die / pass away'. Example 2 shows the euphemistic sense used to soften talk of death.

verb
to go up to the sky(euphemism) to dieto pass away

Examples

  • 上天，。
    Huǒ jiàn shàng tiān le, dà jiā dōu huān hū qǐ lái.
    The rocket went up to the sky, and everyone cheered.
  • 上天，。
    Lǎo rén yǐ jīng shàng tiān le, qǐng jié āi.
    The elderly person has passed away, please accept my condolences.
  • 。
    Tā zhè bèi zi zhī shàng guò yí cì tiān.
    In his whole life, he has only gone up to the sky once.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

上shànggo up
天tiānheaven

上 'go up' toward 天 'heaven/sky' gives the sense of ascending, also euphemistic for dying.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

上 is drawn as a short horizontal line placed above a longer arc, marking a position above that arc.

Open 上 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
大大dà
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng天tiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from a frontal standing man 大 with a head; 天 pairs 大 with 丁 for sound.

Open 天 →
Appears in
Sky & Space

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