生
Tap the pinyin to hear it
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; (bound form) male role in traditional opera; (bound form) life; lifetime; (bound form) means of livelihood; (bound form) very; intensely (as in 生疼[sheng1 teng2]); (bound form) in a forced manner (as in 生拉硬拽[sheng1 la1 ying4 zhuai4])
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 生
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 大学生 | university student; college student | |
| 中学生 | middle-school student; high school student | |
| 学生 | student; schoolchild | |
| 小学生 | primary school student; schoolchild; CL:個|个[ge4],名[ming2]; (fig.) beginner | |
| 生气 | to get angry; to be furious; vitality; liveliness | |
| 生日 | birthday; CL:個|个[ge4] | |
| 生病 | to fall ill | |
| 女生 | schoolgirl; female student; girl | |
| 先生 | teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.); husband; (dialect) doctor; CL:位[wei4] | |
| 男生 | schoolboy; male student; boy; guy (young adult male) | |
| 医生 | doctor; medical practitioner | |
| 生子 | to give birth to a child or children | |
| 人生 | life (one's time on earth) | |
| 大生 | (Tw) university student (abbr. for 大學生|大学生[da4 xue2 sheng1]) | |
| 生人 | stranger; living person; to give birth; to be born (in a certain time or place) | |
| 一生 | all one's life; throughout one's life | |
| 大中学生 | university and high school students | |
| 水生 | aquatic (plant, animal) | |
| 生水 | unboiled water | |
| 天生 | nature; disposition; innate; natural |
Sound family
These characters use 生 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 生 sound part | life, lifetime; birth; growth | |
| 性 | sex, nature, character; suffix converting a verb to an adjective | |
| 星 | star, planet; a point of light | |
| 胜 | victory; to excel, to truimph | |
| 姓 | name, family name, surname; clan, people | |
| 牲 | sacrificial animal; domestic animal | |
| 笙 | free reed mouth organ | |
| 甥 | niece, nephew; sister's child | |
| 旌 | to signal; a flag adorned with feathers | |
| 眚 | cataract; fault, error, crime |