登 (dēng): to climb; to ascend; to mount

Meanings

1 to climb; to ascend; to mount
2 to publish; to record; to register

Characters

登

dēng

to climb; to publish; to register

The bottom component 豆 was originally a ritual vessel - stepping up onto a raised platform, hence 'to ascend'.

Examples

HSK 1

我们一起登山吧。

Wǒmen yìqǐ dēngshān ba.

Let's climb the mountain together.

HSK 3

这篇文章登在报纸上了。

Zhè piān wénzhāng dēng zài bàozhǐ shàng le.

This article was published in the newspaper.

HSK 3

他登上了长城。

Tā dēngshàng le Chángchéng.

He climbed the Great Wall.

Tips

usage

登 has two main meaning groups: (1) physically climbing/ascending (登山, 登长城), and (2) recording/publishing (登记, register; 登录, log in; 刊登, publish). Both share the idea of 'going up' or 'putting something up.'

Components

radical

癶 bō

two feet; stepping radical

Top stepping radical, a pictograph of two feet placed apart - the visual image of climbing or stepping up. It supplies the action: ascending, mounting, stepping onto something raised. The radical is rare but distinctive; it heads a small climbing family alongside 癸 and the now-archaic 癹. Here it pairs with the vessel below to picture stepping up to deliver something.

semantic

豆 dòu

ritual vessel; bean

Bottom 豆 originally pictured a tall, footed ritual vessel - a stemmed offering bowl raised on a pedestal (the 'bean' meaning is a much later borrowing). Combined with the two feet above, the whole forms a compound ideograph: a person stepping up to place an offering on a raised vessel - to mount, ascend, climb. From there 登 generalises to 'climb, board, publish, register' (登山, 登记, 登录).