Above means in a higher position than something. The shelf above the sink, the flat above ours, two degrees above zero.
The pair to learn it against is over, and the difference is real if slight: above means higher than, over means directly higher than or covering. A picture above the fireplace and a picture over the fireplace both work; a blanket over the bed cannot be above it. Above is also used with numbers and levels — above average, above the limit — where over often works too. Note above all, meaning most importantly, and the above meaning the text further up a page.
1prepositionaboveIn a higher position than something.
“There is a light above the door.”
2prepositiongreaterGreater than a number or level.
“Anything above forty pounds needs approval.”
3adverbearlierHigher up, or earlier on a page.
“The names listed above are the ones affected.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
above is a position.
Old English abufan is a- plus bufan, itself be plus ufan, meaning from above. It is a compound built out of a compound, which is why it has no obvious relatives and why over, the simpler word, does more of the everyday work.
Middle English
aboven
English, today
above
Built from
From Middle English aboven. From Middle English above, aboven, abuven, from Old English ābufan, onbufan, from on (“on”) + bufan (“over”), (akin to Icelandic ofan (“from above”), Middle Dutch bōven, Old Frisian bova, Middle High German bobene) from bī (“by”) + ufan (“over”); also cognate with Danish oven, Dutch boven, German oben, Swedish ovan, Old Saxon oban, Old High German obana. The preposition, the adjective, and the noun derive from the adverb.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA