Meaning of 上帝
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- God
How to use 上帝
上帝 is the usual word for God in Christian contexts and in everyday speech, as in exclamations or translated sayings. Example: 我的上帝 (wǒ de Shàngdì) My God.
上 (shàng) means up or above, and 帝 (dì) means emperor. The emperor up above is 上帝 (Shàngdì), God.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 帝 with a neutral tone or confuse it with 第 (dì, ordinal prefix) or 弟 (dì, younger brother). All are fourth tone, but 帝 means emperor, so remember the crown-like top of 帝.
上帝 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
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帝 dì · supreme ruler · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 上帝.
| 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 |
| 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 | |
| 上学 | shàngxué | to go to school; to attend school |
Questions about 上帝
What does 上帝 mean?
上帝 (Shàngdì) means "God" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 上帝?
上帝 is made of 2 characters: 上 (3 strokes), 帝 (9 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 上帝 an HSK word?
Yes. 上帝 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 上帝 the same as 神 (shén)?
Not exactly. 神 is a general word for a god or spirit and can be plural, while 上帝 usually refers to the one God, especially in Christianity. Some Chinese Bible versions use 神 instead of 上帝 for God.
How do Chinese speakers say 'Oh my God'?
You can say 我的天 (wǒ de tiān) or 天哪 (tiān na), which are very common in daily speech. 我的上帝 (wǒ de Shàngdì) exists but sounds more like a translation from English.