生

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.