見上げる

みあげる · miageru · JLPT N2 · verb-ichidan

to admire

🔭 見 (see) + 上げる (raise up) = see by raising your eyes upward

Break it into 見 (see) and 上げる (raise). Raising your eyes to something high gives the sense of looking up, and admiring it gives the sense of admire.

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.

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