生 meaning in English
to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born; to arise; to occur
Meaning of 生
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born
- to arise; to occur
- to light (a fire)
- to live; to be alive
- life
- raw; uncooked; unprocessed
- unfamiliar; strange
- (bound form) student; person engaged in a field
How to use 生
生 appears in many everyday words about life and people, such as 生日 (shēngrì) birthday, 学生 (xuéshēng) student, and 医生 (yīshēng) doctor. On its own it can also mean raw or unfamiliar. Example: 这个肉是生的。(Zhège ròu shì shēng de.) This meat is raw.
Picture 生 (shēng) as a young plant pushing up out of the ground. The bottom line is the soil and the strokes above are a sprout growing upward, which links to its core ideas of growing, being born, and being alive.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 生 with 牛 (niú, cow), which has no bottom horizontal line and a vertical stroke that pokes out the top. In 先生 (xiānsheng) the 生 is usually read in the neutral tone, so do not stress it as a full first tone.
生 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
生 shēng · to grow · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
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- 5
Related words
Words that share a character with 生.
| 先生 | xiānsheng | teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.) |
| 医生 | yīshēng | doctor; medical practitioner |
| 生气 | shēngqì | to get angry; to be furious; vitality; liveliness |
| 学生 | xuéshēng | student; schoolchild |
| 生日 | shēngrì | birthday |
| 生病 | shēngbìng | to fall ill |
| 女生 | nǚshēng | schoolgirl; female student |
| 男生 | nánshēng | schoolboy; male student |
| 大学生 | dàxuéshēng | university student; college student |
| 小学生 | xiǎoxuéshēng | primary school student; schoolchild |
| 中学生 | zhōngxuéshēng | middle-school student; high school student |
| 生活 | shēnghuó | to live; life |
Questions about 生
What does 生 mean?
生 (shēng) means "to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born; to arise; to occur" and is used as a verb and adjective.
How do you write 生?
生 is made of 1 character: 生 (5 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 生 an HSK word?
Yes. 生 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say 'to give birth' with 生?
Use 生 directly with the child as the object, as in 她生了一个女儿。(Tā shēng le yí ge nǚ'ér.) She gave birth to a daughter. For having a baby in general, people also say 生孩子 (shēng háizi).
What does 生气 mean, and is it about anger or energy?
In daily speech 生气 (shēngqì) almost always means to get angry, as in 别生气 (bié shēngqì), don't be angry. The sense of vitality or liveliness exists but is mostly found in writing, such as describing a place as full of life.