Looking up, he was not ashamed before Heaven; looking down, he felt no shame before others.
Tips
history
怍 is not used independently in modern Chinese. It is best known from the Mencius line 俯不怍于人 (to feel no shame before others). It joins the heart radical 忄 with the phonetic 乍, which also seeds 作 and 昨.
register
Classical and literary only; encountered in old texts and etymology notes, not in everyday speech.
