尚 (shàng) is a Chinese character meaning “to hold in esteem”. It is written from ⺌ (three short strokes fanning out at the top of a character) and 冋 (an open frame (冂) with a mouth (口) held inside it), one above the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “to esteem; still, yet”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
⺌ + 冋
Top–bottom structure
- ⺌ three short strokes fanning out at the top of a character unknown
- 冋 an open frame (冂) with a mouth (口) held inside it unknown
Structure from: Unicode IDS ⿱⺌冋, checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph strokes (3 + 5 = 8)
Memory aid
Three strokes fan out at the top (⺌) like a roof spreading wide, and under them sits an open frame holding a mouth (冋). Something raised up and looked up to — that is what 尚 points at.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 时尚shí shàngfashion; fashionable尚 = shàng
- 高尚gāo shàngnoble; lofty; high-minded尚 = shàng
Go deeper
All readings
to esteem; still, yet
to hold in esteem; to value highly; (formal) still, yet
崇尚、看重；也作副词，表示「还、仍然」。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 时尚shí shàngfashion; fashionable尚 = shàng
- 高尚gāo shàngnoble; lofty; high-minded尚 = shàng
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 尚 mean?
尚 (shàng) means to hold in esteem; to value highly; (formal) still, yet.
How do you pronounce 尚?
It is pronounced shàng.
What parts is 尚 made of?
⺌ (three short strokes fanning out at the top of a character) and 冋 (an open frame (冂) with a mouth (口) held inside it), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode IDS ⿱⺌冋, checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph strokes (3 + 5 = 8). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 尚 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 尚?
小. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 尚?
Common ones are 时尚 and 高尚. The reading of 尚 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.