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Kanji Detail for 生 - "to give birth, life, to grow"

生

  • Meaning

    生 means "to give birth, life, to grow."

    1. To live - To be alive; to keep alive.

    2. Alive - While living; in a living state.

    3. Life - Living things; the state of being alive.

    4. To reside - To live; a livelihood; daily life.

    5. To give birth - To be born; to produce; to create; to occur.

    6. Innate - From birth; natural disposition.

    7. To grow - To sprout; to let grow; to arise.

    8. Raw - Unprocessed; unripe; inexperienced.

    9. Pure - Unmixed; genuine.

    10. Scholar - A title for learned people; teacher.

    11. Student - One who learns; a pupil.

    12. Humble self - A humble term men use for themselves.

    13. Opera role - A role type in Chinese traditional opera.

  • Words using 生

    • 学生 がくせい Listen student (esp. a university student)
    • 生活 せいかつ Listen life; living; livelihood
    • 生産 せいさん Listen production; manufacture
    • 人生 じんせい Listen (one's) life
    • 先生 せんせい Listen teacher; instructor; master
    • 年生 ねんせい Listen nth-year student; nth-year pupil
    • 新生 しんせい Listen rebirth; new birth; nascent
    • 生徒 せいと Listen pupil; student; schoolchild

  • Four-character idioms with 生

    • 一生懸命 いっしょうけんめい Listen very hard; with utmost effort; as hard as one can
    • 後生大事 ごしょうだいじ Listen with religious zeal; with utmost devotion; take great care of
    • 生存競争 せいぞんきょうそう Listen struggle for existence
    • 生殺与奪 せいさつよだつ Listen (having) life-and-death power (over)
    • 起死回生 きしかいせい Listen revival from the brink of death; recovering from a hopeless situation; resuscitation
    • 一切衆生 いっさいしゅじょう Listen all living creatures

  • Origin of 生

    A sprout rising out of the ground line — one stem, first leaves, earth below. Birth, life and rawness all grow from this five-stroke plant.

    How to remember it: A shoot standing up out of the soil — alive, new, still green: life.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 生

    • Verified meaning: to give birth, life, to grow
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read あり, いく, いくさき, いくる)

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 生

    Given names 生(あり)Listen 生(いく)Listen 生(いくる)Listen 生(いずる)Listen 生(いぶき)Listen 生(うぶ)Listen 生(うぶみ)Listen 生(すすむ)Listen 生(せい)Listen 生(なる)Listen

    Surnames 生(いくさき)Listen 生(さきぶ)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    life; genuine; birth

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    life, living, lifetime; birth

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; raw; uncooked; student

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    life, lifetime; birth; growth

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    The opposite of death. | The time of living is called 生. Such as 平生 (one's life), 此生 (this life). | All living things are called 生. Such as 群生 (all living beings), 眾生 (all sentient beings). | To produce. (Book of Odes) "Actually gave birth to a child." Whatever is produced from something is also called 生. Such as 生財 (generate wealth), 生利 (generate profit). | To nurture. All things that nurture life are called 生. Such as 生計 (livelihood), 生產 (production). | The opposite of cooked. Such as when fruit is unripe, or food is not fully cooked, all are called 生. Also, not proficient is called 生. One without experience is called 生手 (novice). Not familiar is also called 生. A person one has never met is called 生客 (stranger). Raw materials of goods not yet manufactured are called 生貨 (raw goods). | A scholar. All who are called learners are called 生. Such as 先生 (teacher), 後生 (young person), 儒生 (Confucian scholar), 書生 (scholar). Teachers call their disciples 生. Disciples also call themselves 生. Also, in Yuan and Ming times, it was used interchangeably with 末. Hence many forms of address use the character 生. Such as 眷生 (your affectionate), 晚生 (junior). Which are 眷末 and 晚末. | A role name in drama. Such as 老生 (old male role), 小生 (young male role) and such.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    sei(セイ) セイ

    shoh(ショウ) ショウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    ha.eru(は-える) は-える

    haya.su(は-やす) は-やす

    i.kasu(い-かす) い-かす

    i.keru(い-ける) い-ける

    i.kiru(い-きる) い-きる

    ki(き) き

    musu(む-す) む-す

    na.su(なす) なす

    nama(なま) なま

    naru(な-る) な-る

    o.u(お-う) お-う

    u(う) う

    u.mu(う-む) う-む

    umare(うまれ) うまれ

    umareru(う-まれる) う-まれる

  • Strokes

    tip

    5 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    生 (ikiru・umareru)

  • Related Keywords

    to give birth to grow life to live to reside alive humble self innate pure raw scholar student unprocessed birth uncooked animate chaste clean energy existence fresh growth innocent living natural newborn offspring organic pristine source survival

Sentences including 生

  • What a good teacher mr hirayama is !

  • I don't want to lead a dog's life any more.

  • Nobody can live by himself.

  • How are things for you up there?

  • Did you inform your teacher of this?

  • I asked my teacher what to do next.

  • If he will not work hard , he will be fired.

  • It will pay you to study hard.

  • She lived a lonely life.

  • All of the students stood up together.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 生 (ikiru・umareru)

See all kanji with this radical →

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