仰 means “look up, revere”

あおぐ · aogu

Also: face-up, depend, seek

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

あおぐ, おおせ, おっしゃる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ギョウ, コウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 6 strokes

The story

A person (亻) beside 卬: picture a kneeling figure gazing up in awe at someone standing tall. 仰ぐ is to look up to, 信仰 is religious faith, and the honorific おっしゃる, to say, can be written 仰る.

Used in 信仰 (shinkou, faith), 仰ぐ (aogu, to look up to), and 仰向け (aomuke, lying face up)

More from Temple & Zen

• 僧 monk
• 尼 nun
• 禅 Zen
• 刹 temple
• 宗 religion
• 戒 guard against
• 聖 holy
• 浄 pure
• 悟 realize

Learn 仰 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.