Lesson 4 · Foundational Components

Up, Down, Out, In: 上 / 下 / 出 / 入

Unlike 人/木/水/口/日 or 女/子, none of 上/下/出/入 are pictographs of a thing. 上 and 下 are indicative characters (指事 zhǐshì) — a mark placed above or below a baseline, diagramming a relationship rather than drawing an object: there is no smaller piece inside them, so they don't decompose at all.

Your five new components

上

shàng

up, above, on

3 strokes

下

xià

down, below, off

3 strokes

出

chū

out, go out, exceed

5 strokes

入

rù

enter, into

2 strokes

Quick recall — click each card to flip it:

上

shàng — up, above, on

下

xià — down, below, off

出

chū — out, go out, exceed

入

rù — enter, into

上 and 下 don't decompose — they diagram. Both characters are a small mark sitting above or below a horizontal baseline: above the line means "up," below it means "down." There's no smaller meaningful piece to point to inside them, which is exactly what makes a character 指事 rather than the 象形 (pictograph) or 会意 (compound-meaning, like 好 and 如 in Lesson 2) categories you've seen so far. (Wiktionary: 上, Wiktionary: 下)

入 vs. 人 — the classic mix-up. 入 (rù, "enter") and 人 (rén, "person," Lesson 1) are both just two diagonal strokes, and beginners confuse them constantly. The tell: in 人 the two strokes meet low, like a stick-figure's legs; in 入 the second stroke crosses higher up, giving the top a small "spike." If you're ever unsure which one you're looking at, that spike is the thing to check for.

出 is not, as is often taught, "two 山 (shān, "mountain"") stacked," even though the modern glyph really does look that way. The real origin:

出chūout, exit

止+凵=出

止 (zhǐ,"foot") stepping out of 凵 (qiǎn, "pit, cave"). (Wiktionary: 出)

Stroke order

入 is simple — two strokes, same diagonal shapes as 人, just crossing at a different point (see the callout above):

入 — 2 strokes
▶ watch animated

上 — 3 strokes

上 — 3 strokes
▶ watch animated

下 — 3 strokes

下 — 3 strokes
▶ watch animated

出 — 5 strokes

Think of 出 as two nested ⌐-shapes, each with a vertical post inside, the right section taller than the left:

出 — 5 strokes
▶ watch animated

Examples using these components: characters vs. words

So far every "combination" you've learned — 休, 林, 好, 如, 太 — has been components fusing into one new character. 出口 and 入口 are a different, even more common pattern: two already-complete characters, placed side by side, forming a two-character word — the same way "sun" + "flower" makes the English word "sunflower" without either word stopping being a word on its own. Most modern Mandarin vocabulary works this way, which is why Hacking Chinese's article on words vs. characters vs. components (cited in RESOURCES.md) is worth keeping in mind: knowing 出 and 口 individually is what lets you read 出口 the instant you see it, with nothing new to memorise.

出口chūkǒuexit

出+口=出口

入口rùkǒuentrance

入+口=入口

口 here is the same "mouth, opening" component from Lesson 1 — an "opening you go out of" and an "opening you go into." 出口/入口 are posted on essentially every door, station platform, and car park in any Mandarin-speaking place you'll visit.

上 and 下 show up solo constantly, too. Lift and escalator buttons, "this side up" markings on parcels, and — if you ever take a bus or taxi — 上车 (shàngchē, "board the vehicle") and 下车 (xiàchē, "get off the vehicle") announced at every stop. And 上 turns up in a city name you may already know: 上海 (Shànghǎi, "Shanghai") is literally "above the sea," the same way Lesson 3's 中 turns up in 中国/中文.

Check your recall

Which component means "enter, into"?

出口 (出 "out" + 口 "opening") marks:

入口 (入 "in" + 口 "opening") marks:

Unlike 好 (女+子), 出口 is best described as:

Go further

Primary source for this lesson's central idea: Olle Linge's words vs. characters vs. components article (Hacking Chinese). For etymology, see the Wiktionary entries linked above, or the Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters for the rigorous version.

Out in the world: 出口/入口 are two of the most common compound words you'll come across in public spaces — look for them literally anywhere you next pass through a door, train station, or car park.