仰 (yǎng) — to face upward; to look up; to admire; to revere; to rely on; to depend on

Definition

仰 (yǎng) literally means 'to face upward / look up' (head tilted back) and, by extension, 'to admire or revere' a person. Unlike 查 or 搜, it is not used for looking information up in a reference — it describes physical gaze or emotional reverence.

verb
to face upwardto look upto admireto revereto rely onto depend on
Easily confused

Examples

  • 仰。
    Tā yǎng zhe tóu kàn tiān shàng de fēi jī.
    He tilted his head up to look at the plane in the sky.
  • 。
    Wǒ fēi cháng yǎng mù tā de wèi rén.
    I greatly admire his character.
  • 。
    Gōng sī zhǐ néng yǎng zhàng yín háng dài kuǎn wéi chí.
    The company can only rely on bank loans to stay afloat.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
卬
卬áng仰yǎng
Same sound today

In 仰, the left part 亻 represents a person, and the right part 卬 gives the sound.

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Attitudes & OpinionsSenses

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