Meaning of 上午
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- morning
How to use 上午
上午 refers to the hours from roughly 8 or 9 a.m. until noon, and it often comes before a clock time. Example: 我上午十点上课。(Wǒ shàngwǔ shí diǎn shàngkè.) I have class at 10 a.m.
上 (shàng) means "up" or "before," and 午 (wǔ) means "noon." So 上午 is the part of the day that comes before noon.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 上午 (shàngwǔ) with 早上 (zǎoshang). 早上 is early morning, around waking up and breakfast, while 上午 covers the later morning until noon. Also do not confuse 午 (wǔ) with 牛 (niú, cow), which has a stroke that pokes through the top.
上午 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
上 shàng · up · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
午 wǔ · noon · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 上午.
| 马上 | mǎshàng | at once; right away |
| 晚上 | wǎnshang | evening; night |
| 身上 | shēnshang | on the body; at hand |
| 早上 | zǎoshang | early morning |
| 上次 | shàng cì | last time |
| 路上 | lùshang | on the road; on the way; en route |
| 下午 | xiàwǔ | afternoon; p.m. |
| 上班 | shàngbān | to go to work; to be on duty |
| 上车 | shàng chē | to get on or into (a bus, train, car etc) |
| 地上 | dìshang | on the ground; on the floor |
| 楼上 | lóu shàng | upstairs; (Internet slang) previous poster in a forum thread |
| 车上 | chē shang |
Questions about 上午
What does 上午 mean?
上午 (shàngwǔ) means "morning" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 上午?
上午 is made of 2 characters: 上 (3 strokes), 午 (4 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 上午 an HSK word?
Yes. 上午 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say afternoon and noon in Chinese?
Afternoon is 下午 (xiàwǔ), literally "after noon." Noon itself is 中午 (zhōngwǔ). Together with 上午 these three words divide the daytime.
Where does 上午 go in a Chinese sentence?
Time words like 上午 usually go before the verb, either right after the subject or at the very start. For example, 明天上午我去医院 (Míngtiān shàngwǔ wǒ qù yīyuàn) means "Tomorrow morning I am going to the hospital." Putting it at the end of the sentence, as in English, sounds wrong.