Chinese symbol for “previous”
上
shàng
(bound form) up; upper; above; previous; first (of multiple parts); to climb; to get onto; to go up; to attend (class or university)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for previous is 上 (shàng), defined as: (bound form) up; upper; above; previous; first (of multiple parts); to climb; to get onto; to go up; to attend (class or university); (directional complement) up; (noun suffix) on; above.
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
Other Chinese words for “previous”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 过去 (過去) | guò qù | (in the) past; former; previous; to go over; to pass by |
| 以前 | yǐ qián | before; formerly |
| 往 | wǎng | to go (in a direction); to |
| 上任 | shàng rèn | to take office; previous (incumbent) |
| 上个 (上個) | shàng ge | first (of two parts); last (week etc) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 上.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 以上 | yǐ shàng | that level or higher; that amount or more; the above-mentioned |
| 晚上 | wǎn shang | evening; night |
| 身上 | shēn shang | on the body; at hand |
| 加上 | jiā shàng | to add; plus; in addition; moreover |
| 上面 | shàng miàn | on top of; above-mentioned |
| 实际上 (實際上) | shí jì shàng | in fact; in reality |
See also: Japanese symbol for “previous”.
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.