Meaning of 生长
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to grow
- to grow up
- to be brought up
How to use 生长
生长 is used for plants, animals, and people growing physically, and also for where someone grew up. It often appears with 在 to name a place. Example: 他在北京出生，在上海生长。(Tā zài Běijīng chūshēng, zài Shànghǎi shēngzhǎng.) He was born in Beijing and grew up in Shanghai.
生 (shēng) means to be born or to live, and 长 (zhǎng) means to grow bigger. Put them together and you get life that keeps getting bigger: to grow, or to grow up.
Common mistake: Learners often read 长 here as cháng (long), but in 生长 it is zhǎng (to grow). Also, for a person growing up in daily speech, 长大 (zhǎngdà) is more common than 生长.
生长 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
- 4
- 5
长 cháng · long · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 生长.
| 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 生长
What does 生长 mean?
生长 (shēngzhǎng) means "to grow; to grow up" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 生长?
生长 is made of 2 characters: 生 (5 strokes), 长 (4 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 生长 an HSK word?
Yes. 生长 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 生长 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 生长 is written 生長.
What is the difference between 生长 and 成长?
生长 focuses on natural, physical growth, like plants growing or a body developing. 成长 (chéngzhǎng) is often about maturing as a person or a company developing over time.
Can 生长 take an object?
Usually not. It is mostly intransitive, so you say 小草生长得很快 (the grass grows fast) rather than putting a direct object after it. To say a place grows something, use a structure like 这里生长着很多竹子 (a lot of bamboo grows here).