upon
/əˈpɔn/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.12 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep
alternative to on in most, though not all, prepositional uses.
Example Sentences
- "A vase of flowers stood upon the table. — The painting hangs upon the wall. — All of the responsibility is upon him. — She plays upon a violin (or piano). — The lighthouse that you can see is upon the mainland. — He rested upon his elbows. — Tug upon the rope; push hard upon the door! — I stubbed my toe upon an old tree stump. — He wore old shoes upon his feet. — Born upon the 4th of July. — I have no opinion upon this subject. — They proceeded to arrest someone upon suspicion of bribery. — Upon Jack's entry, William got up to leave. — Before we knew it, the forest was upon us, and the air grew colder. — The holidays are upon us again. — What will be the effect upon morale? — Have pity or compassion upon him. — They lived upon ten dollars a week. — We ate heaps upon heaps of food. — I depended upon them for assistance. — He affirmed or promised upon his word. — Upon my life, I am innocent. — A curse upon him! — They claimed the report contained "innuendo upon innuendo.""
- "Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …"
- "No news of them? Why, so: and I know not what's spend in the search: why thou loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tears but of my shedding."
- "The drums play on The year of the dog is upon us."
- "Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited."
- "Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Germanic *ub Proto-Germanic *upp Proto-West Germanic *upp Old English upp Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-der. Proto-Germanic *an Proto-West Germanic *ana Old English on Old English uppan Middle English upon English upon From Middle English upon, uppon, uppen, from Old English upon, uppon, uppan (“on, upon, up to, against, after, in addition to”), equivalent to up (“adverb”) + on (“preposition”). Cognate with Old Saxon uppan (“upon”), Old High German ūfan, ūffan (“upon”), Icelandic upp á, upp á (“up on, upon”), Swedish uppå (“up on, upon”) (thence Swedish på), Danish på (“up on, upon”), Norwegian på (“up on, upon”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: upon
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈpɔn/
- British English: /əˈpɒn/