升 (shēng): to ascend, to rise, to promote, to elevate, liter

升 (shēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to ascend.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 十 (structural). It ranks #837 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to ascend
  2. to rise
  3. to promote
  4. to elevate
  5. liter

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

Practice writing 升 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 升

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
上升verbshàng shēngto rise5
提升verbtí shēngto promote (to a higher-ranking position)5
升级verbshēng jíto go up by one grade5
毫升measureháo shēngmilliliter6
升温verbshēng wēnto become hot5
升学verbshēng xuéto enter the next grade school6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
直升机nounzhí shēng jīhelicopter
升起verbshēng qǐto raise
直升飞机nounzhí shēng fēi jīsee 直升機|直升机
升高verbshēng gāoto raise
晋升verbjìn shēngto promote to a higher position
升空verbshēng kōngto rise to the sky
升迁verbshēng qiānto advance to a higher-level position
升华verbshēng huáto sublimate
升天verbshēng tiānlit. to ascend to heaven
升降机nounshēng jiàng jīaerial work platform (e.g. cherry picker or scissor lift)
升官verbshēng guānto get promoted
爬升verbpá shēngto rise
升降verbshēng jiàngrising and falling
飙升verbbiāo shēngto rise rapidly
攀升verbpān shēngto clamber up
85
Total compounds
52
As first character
32
As last character
16
As middle character

升 appears in 85 compound words: 52 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 16 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 升 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

晋jìn
0.53621,474 co-occurrences
提tí
0.51084,792 co-occurrences
爬pá
0.5105,010 co-occurrences
格gé
0.50357,802 co-occurrences
飙biāo
0.4861,131 co-occurrences
降jiàng
0.48424,000 co-occurrences
级jí
0.48235,062 co-occurrences
抬tái
0.4702,418 co-occurrences
直zhí
0.45735,636 co-occurrences
攀pān
0.4363,076 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

步步高升bùbùgāoshēngHSK 5+

to advance step by step (especially in a career)

phrase
歌舞升平gēwǔshēngpíngHSK 5+

prosperous and peaceful

phrase
鸡犬升天jīquǎnshēngtiānHSK 7+

When a man gets to the top, all his friends and relations get there with him. / to ride on somebody else's success

phrase
明升暗降míng shēng àn jiàngHSK 5+

(idiom) to kick sb upstairs

phrase
升斗小民shēng dǒu xiǎo mínHSK 5+

(idiom) poor people; those who live from hand to mouth

phrase
升官发财shēngguānfācáiHSK 6+

to be promoted to a higher position as an official and make a fortune

phrase
升糖指数shēng táng zhǐ shùHSK 5+

glycemic index

phrase
四海升平sì hǎi shēng píngHSK 5+

(idiom) the whole world is at peace

phrase

Showing 8 of 9 idioms containing 升.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解升字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè shēng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "升" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

東方日報Feb 2026

正论:留港消费情已逝 出境外游按年升

zhèng lùn : liú gǎng xiāo fèi qíng yǐ shì chū jìng wài yóu àn nián shēng

Commentary: Consumption in Hong Kong is gone, and outbound travel is increasing year-on-year

東方日報Feb 2026

被困晴空塔升降机长达5个半小时 约20人全部获救

bèi kùn qíng kōng tǎ shēng jiàng jī cháng dá 5 gè bàn xiǎo shí yuē 2 0 rén quán bù huò jiù

Trapped in the Skytree lift for five and a half hours, about 20 people were rescued

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

通膨上升、减重药热销 美食品业降价吸引顾客回流

tōng péng shàng shēng , jiǎn chóng yào rè xiāo měi shí pǐn yè jiàng jià xī yǐn gù kè huí liú

Inflation rises, weight loss drugs are hot, and the price reduction of the US food industry attracts customers to return

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

传统采洗牡蛎费工费时 台南引进洗蚵机提升效率

chuán tǒng cǎi xǐ mǔ 蛎 fèi gōng fèi shí tái nán yǐn jìn xǐ 蚵 jī tí shēng xiào lǜ

Traditional oyster washing is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and Tainan has introduced oyster washing machines to improve efficiency

東方日報Feb 2026

哗!近$4,620万买嘉应高升W创纪录!

huā ! jìn 4 , 6 2 0 wàn mǎi jiā yīng gāo shēng W chuàng jì lù !

Wow! Nearly $46.2 million to buy Jiaying High W record!

Tatoeba

世界人口有上升的趋势。

Shìjiè rénkǒu yǒu shàngshēng de qūshì.

The world's population tends to increase.

Tatoeba

物价一直在稳定上升。

Wùjià yīzhí zài wěndìng shàngshēng.

Prices have been rising steadily.

Tatoeba

事实上,价格每个星期都在攀升。

Shìshíshàng, jiàgé měi gè xīngqī dōu zài pānshēng.

As it is, prices are going up every week.

Tatoeba

这个政策导致物价大幅度的上升。

Zhège zhèngcè dǎozhì wùjià dàfúdù de shàngshēng.

This policy resulted in a great rise in prices.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shēng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 升 (shēng) mean in Chinese?
升 (shēng) primarily means "to ascend." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #837 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 升 and 倒?
升 (shēng) and 倒 (dǎo) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 升 (rise) vs 倒 (fall).
How many strokes does 升 have?
升 is written with 4 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 升?
The radical associated with 升 is 十 (ten). This radical appears in many characters related to ten.
What are the components of 升?
升 is composed of: 十 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 升?
Common words with 升 include: 直升机 (zhí shēng jī, "helicopter"); 上升 (shàng shēng, "to rise"); 提升 (tí shēng, "to promote (to a higher-ranking position)"); 升级 (shēng jí, "to go up by one grade"); 升起 (shēng qǐ, "to raise"). There are over 85 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 升 (shēng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shēng: 生 (to be born), 声 (sound), 胜 (victory), 省 (province, to save), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 升 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 升 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 升 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.