In Confucian and Daoist contexts, 仰 expresses both respect for elders or sages and the recognition of one’s dependence on forces greater than oneself. It carries a sense of humility, placing oneself in a lower position relative to what is honored above.
仰 is central to Christian vocabulary through the word 信仰 (faith), which literally means “trust and reverence.” In Christian theology, faith (信仰) is not only belief but also an act of looking upward toward God in reliance and worship.

Phono-semantic compound:
人 (사람 인, “person”) provides the semantic element;
卬 (나 앙) provides the phonetic element.

Semantic range:
- to look upward;
- to admire, to revere, to look up to;
- to rely upon, to depend on;
- figuratively, to respect or honor.

仰望 (앙망) — to look up to, to admire, also “to gaze upwards”
信仰 (신앙) — religious faith, literally “trust + reverence”
仰慕 (앙모) — to admire, to look up to with longing

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

to perish, to be lost, to die, to flee

to be high, lofty, elevated

to associate, to meet, to make friends, to intersect, to exchange, to cross

sincere, truthful

benevolence, kindness, humaneness

to be between, to insert, mediate

another, other, someone else

to substitute, to replace, era, generation

to look up, to admire, to revere

item, matter, case

to entrust, to assign responsibility, to bear a duty

to plan, to strive for, to stand on tiptoe, to hope/aspire

to lie prostrate, to submit, to conceal

to resemble, to be like

status, place, position

low, to be low, lower than

how, what, which

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Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

仰

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Additional notes

Characters next to each other in the list