Chinese Character Wiki
生

shēng

life

Pictograph of a sprout emerging from the ground.

Evolution

生 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
生 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
生 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
生 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
生 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

生  

shēng

life, living, lifetime; birth; to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; raw; uncooked; student

Most common words with 生
Freq.
Word
Meaning

先生

teacher

发生

to happen

生活

life

医生

doctor

生产

to produce

Component uses

Meaning component in 5 characters (3 verified)

產 青 甦 産 甤

Sound component in 10 characters (6 verified)

性 星 省 胜 姓 眚 牲 甥 笙 旌

Deleted component in 1 character (1 verified)

产

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*sreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)

sraeng

shēng

bear, be born; live

*sreŋ

sraeng

shēng

fresh, raw

*sreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)

srjaeng

shēng

bear, be born; live


Statistics

HSK level 2

Appears in 99.9039% of movies

48th most common character in movies

34th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

5

Unicode

U+751F

Shuowen

“生，進也。象艸木生出土上。”


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