Meaning & readings

ascend, climb up

On’yomi トウ、ト、ドウ、ショウ、チョウ
Kun’yomi のぼ.る、あ.がる
Nanori たか、のぼし、のぼり、のり

Origin

The character combines two elements to picture the act of climbing. The top part, 癶, represents two legs or feet, while the bottom part, , originally depicted a stand or platform. Together they show a figure with legs positioned over a raised surface, capturing the idea of stepping up onto something higher. This visual of ascending onto an elevated object became the way to write the word for climbing or ascending.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

12 strokes

Components

  • radical top
  • meaning part bottom

Common words

  • 登記 とうき registry; registration
  • 登校 とうこう attendance (at school); going to school
  • 登山 とざん mountain climbing; mountaineering
  • 登場 とうじょう entrance (on the stage); appearance (in a book, film, etc.)
  • 登録 とうろく registration; accession
  • 登用 とうよう appointment; assignment
  • 登板 とうばん taking the mound; pitching a game
  • 登頂 とうちょう climbing to the summit; summiting

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
105
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#566 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+0767B