上班
shàngbān · HSK 1
go to work
💼 上班 = shàng (go up/onto) + bān (shift/duty)
上 means to get on or start; 班 is a work shift or class. Together: to go on shift, i.e. start work. Same 班 appears in 下班 (xiàbān, get off work) and 加班 (jiābān, work overtime).
上 — horizontal line above a baseline
上 is an indicative character (指事): a short stroke placed above a longer reference line shows the concept of 'above' or 'up'. The earliest oracle-bone forms used two horizontal lines for this; the modern shape added a vertical stroke for clarity. The core meaning of 'upper, above, to ascend' has stayed stable for millennia.
班 — two jade 玨 + knife 刂 in the middle
班 originally depicted a knife (刂) dividing a pair of jade pieces (玨), showing the act of splitting jade between people. From this 'dividing' sense it came to mean 'distribute,' then 'a group formed by division,' giving modern meanings like class, team, or shift.