Up (adverb / preposition) — towards or in a higher position; towards the north; along a road or river.
Up (adverb) — completely; into a finished or closed state: drink up, tidy up, zip up.
Up (adverb / adjective) — at a higher level; increased: Prices are up. Turn the volume up.
Up (verb) — to raise or increase something suddenly: They upped the offer at the last minute.
Up (noun) — a period of good fortune or happiness: life's ups and downs.
What Does Up Mean?
Up derives from Old English up or uppe, related to Old High German uf and Dutch op, all from Proto-Germanic *upp-. The core sense of "towards a higher place" has remained stable for over a thousand years, but the word has accumulated a remarkable range of secondary meanings through regular use in phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions.
In its most concrete sense, up describes physical movement or position: climb up the ladder, look up at the sky, the price went up. A second major function is completive: placed after a verb, up signals that an action is thorough or finished — eat up, clean up, fill up. A third function is intensifying: speak up (more loudly), hurry up (faster). As an adjective it describes a state of wakefulness or operation: Is the server up? Are you up yet?
Because up combines with so many verbs to create phrasal verbs — linguists have catalogued over 200 common ones — it is one of the words most worth studying carefully. The meaning of up in each phrasal verb usually falls into one of three groups: direction (move up), completion (use up), or intensification (step up).
Etymology
Old English up, uppe → Old High German uf → Proto-Germanic *upp- → Proto-Indo-European *upo (under, up from under). The same root gave Latin sub (under) via a different sound shift, and Sanskrit upa- (near, towards). The word has been in continuous use in English since the earliest written records, around the 8th century.
Example Sentences
| Sentence | Level & usage note |
|---|---|
| She walked up the stairs to her classroom. | A2 — preposition, physical direction |
| She stayed up late the night before the exam to review her grammar notes. | B1 — adverb, awake / not in bed |
| Please speak up — I can't hear you at the back of the room. | B1 — adverb, intensification (louder) |
| The government decided to up its investment in renewable energy by fifteen per cent. | B2 — verb, to increase |
| Despite the project's ups and downs, the team delivered a polished final report. | C1 — noun, periods of good and bad fortune |
Collocations
| Collocation | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| wake up | stop sleeping | I wake up at seven every morning. |
| give up | stop trying; surrender | Don't give up — you're nearly there. |
| set up | establish; arrange | They set up a new business last year. |
| pick up | collect; improve; learn informally | Can you pick up some milk on the way home? |
| turn up | arrive; increase volume | He turned up an hour late to the meeting. |
| catch up | reach the same level | She studied hard to catch up with the rest of the class. |
| up to date | current; modern | Make sure your CV is up to date. |
| end up | eventually be in a situation | We ended up taking a taxi home. |
| come up with | produce an idea or solution | She came up with a brilliant plan. |
| ups and downs | mixture of good and bad periods | Every career has its ups and downs. |
Usage Notes
- Direction vs completion: Compare go up the mountain (direction) with use up all the milk (completion). In the second case, up adds no direction — it simply signals the action is total or finished.
- Separable phrasal verbs: When up forms part of a separable phrasal verb, a pronoun object must go between the verb and up: Turn it up (not Turn up it). A noun object may go either side: Turn up the volume / Turn the volume up.
- Formal alternatives: In academic or formal writing, consider replacing phrasal verbs with up with Latinate verbs: increase instead of go up, establish instead of set up, cease instead of give up.
- Up as adjective: The system is up (running/operational) is common in technical contexts. Are you up? means "Are you awake?" in everyday British English.
Common Mistakes
Watch Out For
She raised up her hand to ask a question.
She raised her hand to ask a question. (raise already implies upward movement — up is redundant here)
Please enter up the building through the side door.
Please enter the building through the side door. (enter does not collocate with up)
Turn up it — the music is too quiet.
Turn it up — the music is too quiet. (pronoun objects must split the phrasal verb)
I am fed up from this weather.
I am fed up with this weather. (the fixed collocation is fed up with, not fed up from)