上操 (shàng cāo) — to go out for drill, to do military exercises

Definition

Military/colloquial term meaning 'to do drill or physical training' (literally 'go up + drill'). Common in armed-forces and school-PT contexts; the standalone noun 操 alone is the general word for exercise/drill.

verb
to go out for drillto do military exercises
Easily confused

Examples

  • 上操。
    Míng tiān zǎo shàng liù diǎn shàng cāo.
    Tomorrow morning at six we drill.
  • 。
    Zhè ge yuè wǒ men zhī shàng guò yí cì cāo.
    This month we only did drills once.
  • 上操。
    Xīn bīng měi tiān dōu yào shàng cāo.
    New recruits have to drill every day.

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 to
操cāodrill

上 means to go to or attend, and 操 means drill or exercise; together they describe going out for military exercises.

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
喿
喿zào操cāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 手 shows a hand, indicating an action done by hand. The right part 喿 gives the sound.

Open 操 →

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