Chinese symbol for “aloft”

高高在上

gāo gāo zài shàng

(idiom) situated high; aloft; (idiom) (fig.) aloof and remote; situated above the masses and out of touch with reality

The closest CC-CEDICT match for aloft is 高高在上 (gāo gāo zài shàng), defined as: (idiom) situated high; aloft; (idiom) (fig.) aloof and remote; situated above the masses and out of touch with reality.

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

高 gāo

tall, lofty; high, elevated

radical 189 ⾼ · 10 strokes

高

高 gāo

tall, lofty; high, elevated

radical 189 ⾼ · 10 strokes

在 zài

at, in, on; to exist; used to indicate the present progressive tense

radical 32 ⼟ · 6 strokes

上 shàng

above, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; previous

radical 1 ⼀ · 3 strokes

Related words

Other words that share a character with 高高在上.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
最高	zuì gāo	tallest; highest
提高	tí gāo	to raise; to increase
高兴 (高興)	gāo xìng	happy; glad
高级 (高級)	gāo jí	high level; high grade
高度	gāo dù	height; altitude
高中	gāo zhōng	senior high school (abbr. for 高级中学 (gāo jí zhōng xué))
现在 (現在)	xiàn zài	now; at present; currently
存在	cún zài	to exist; to be
以上	yǐ shàng	that level or higher; that amount or more; the above-mentioned

See also: Japanese symbol for “aloft”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.