HSK Level 2

shēng

unripe; green; living; raw; unfamiliar

Mobile & Tablet App

Master with Writing Practice

Practice writing with stroke order guidance, audio pronunciation, and interactive exercises in our mobile app.

Step-by-step stroke order animations

Native speaker audio pronunciation

Interactive writing recognition

Practice Now
Character writing practice in mobile app

Example Sentences

我生在北京。

wǒ shēng zài běi jīng.

I was born in Beijing.

他生得很帅。

tā shēng de hěn shuài.

He is very handsome.

人生无常。

rén shēng wú cháng.

Life is unpredictable.

Synonyms

出世 (chū shì)

to be born

活着 (huó zhe)

to live

Antonyms

(sǐ)

die

(shú)

cooked

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 生 (shēng) is composed of two parts: the radical 艸 (cǎo), which means "grass" or "plant", and the phonetic component 生 (shēng), which means "to give birth" or "to grow". The character 生 originally meant "to sprout" or "to grow", and it was later extended to mean "to be born" or "to live".The character 生 is also used in many other Chinese words and phrases. For example, the word 人生 (rénshēng) means "life", and the word 生日 (shēngrì) means "birthday". The character 生 is also used in the names of many plants and animals, such as the word 生姜 (shēngjiāng), which means "ginger", and the word 生菜 (shēngcài), which means "lettuce".The character 生 is a very important character in Chinese, and it is used in a wide variety of words and phrases. By understanding the etymology of the character 生, you can better understand the meaning of many Chinese words and phrases.