上传 (shàng chuán) — to upload (a file, data, or content to a server or the cloud)

Definition

上传 (shàng chuán) means 'to upload' — sending a file or data from your device to a server or the cloud. It is the opposite direction of 下载 ('to download'), not a synonym of the listed siblings, which concern extracting or processing data.

verb
to upload (a file, data, or content to a server or the cloud)

Examples

  • 上传。
    Qǐng bǎ zhè zhāng zhào piàn shàng chuán dào wǎng zhàn shàng.
    Please upload this photo to the website.
  • 上传？
    Nǐ cóng shǒu jī shàng chuán shì pín le ma?
    Did you upload the video from your phone?
  • 上传。
    Zuì xīn de bǎn běn yǐ jīng shàng chuán le.
    The latest version has already been uploaded.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

上shàngup
传chuánsend

上 (up) + 传 (send) means sending content upward to a server.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 傳; 传 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān傳chuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 傳 puts 人 (man) beside 專, which gives the sound; the simplified 传 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 传 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Computers & Internet

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