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亲生 (qīn shēng) — (adjective) one's own by blood, biological

Definition

亲生 means 'biological / by birth', used only for the blood relationship between parents and children (亲生父母, 亲生子女). Unlike 亲身 ('firsthand, in person'), it is never about an experience — always about parentage.

adjective
one's own by bloodbiological

Examples

  • 亲生，。
    Tā bú shì wǒ de qīn shēng mǔ qīn, dàn duì wǒ hěn hǎo.
    She is not my biological mother, but she is very kind to me.
  • 亲生。
    qīn shēng Fù mǔ hé yǎng fù mǔ dōu ài zhè ge hái zi.
    Both biological parents and adoptive parents love this child.
  • 亲生，。
    Wǒ zhǎo dào le zì jǐ de qīn shēng fù qīn, fēi cháng gāo xìng.
    I found my biological father and am very happy.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

亲qīnblood relation
生shēngbirth

亲 expresses a blood relation and 生 expresses birth, so together they mean biological.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 親; 亲 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
辛
辛xīn親qīn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 親 uses 見 (see) for sense and 辛 (a chisel) for sound; the simplified 亲 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 亲 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

Open 生 →
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