立ち上がる
たちあがる · tachiagaru · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to stand up
🧍 立ち上がる = stand (立つ) + rise up (上がる)
It is a compound verb: 立つ (tatsu, to stand) joins 上がる (agaru, to go up), so it means to rise to your feet. The same 上がる appears in 起き上がる, to sit up or get up from lying down.
立 — person standing on ground (大 over 一)
Pictograph of a person standing with arms outstretched on the ground line below. The original oracle bone form clearly shows a frontal human figure planted on the earth. The core meaning 'to stand' extended to 'establish, set up, erect.'
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.