上街 (shàng jiē) — to go into the street; to go out (of one's home…

Definition

上街 (shàng jiē) literally 'go up the street' — an everyday way to say 'go out (of the house)' or 'go shopping'. It is separable: 上街 → 上一次街.

verb

to go into the streetto go out (of one's home)to go shopping

上街。
Wǒ men míng tiān yì qǐ qù shàng jiē ba.
Let's go shopping together tomorrow.
，。
Tā zuó tiān shàng le yí cì jiē, mǎi le bù shǎo dōng xī.
She went out shopping yesterday and bought quite a few things.
，上街。
Jīn tiān tiān qì bú cuò, wǒ xiǎng shàng jiē zǒu zǒu.
The weather is nice today; I want to go out for a walk.

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/onto

上 means go to or onto and 街 means street, giving the sense of going out onto the street.

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.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

圭

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

街 combines 行 and 圭: 行 is the meaning part, and 圭 is the sound part. Originally, 圭 drew a pair of ritual axes, not earth.

Appears in