生 shēng — to be born; to grow; to give birth to; life; raw, uncooked; unfamiliar, strange

Pinyin

• shēng (first tone, high and level)

to be born; to grow; to give birth to; life; raw, uncooked; unfamiliar, strange

Character breakdown

• 屮meaning partno entry yetA young shoot with its first leaves.
• 土meaning partno entry yetThe ground it is pushing through. The modern five strokes have run the two together; the character is a radical in its own right.

Mnemonic

A shoot breaking out of the ground: the earth 土 at the foot, the sprout 屮 rising through it, the two run together into five strokes. Everything the word does grows from that picture — 生日 the day of being born, 生活 the living of a life, 学生 the one growing into learning. What has not yet been worked on is also 生: 生词 a word you have never met, 生肉 uncooked meat.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 生

• 学生/學生xuésheng (second tone, rising)student, pupil
• 先生xiānsheng (first tone, high and level)Mr, sir
• 发生/發生fāshēng (first tone, high and level)to happen, to occur
• 医生/醫生yīshēng (first tone, high and level)doctor, physician
• 生日shēngrì (first tone, high and level)birthday
• 生气/生氣shēngqì (first tone, high and level)to get angry, to be cross
• 生病shēngbìng (first tone, high and level)to fall ill, to be sick