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人生观 (rén shēng guān) — outlook on life; philosophy of life

Definition

noun
outlook on lifephilosophy of life

Examples

  • 人生观。
    Měi gè rén dōu yǒu zì jǐ dú tè de rén shēng guān.
    Everyone has their own unique outlook on life.
  • 人生观，。
    Tā de rén shēng guān fēi cháng jī jí, zǒng shì kàn dào shì qing hǎo de yí miàn.
    His outlook on life is very positive; he always sees the good side of things.
  • 人生观。
    Zhè běn shū jiǎng shù le yì zhǒng quán xīn de rén shēng guān.
    This book presents a completely new philosophy of life.

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.

人生human life
人rénhuman生shēnglife
偏正Modifier + head
观guānview

人生 is human life; 观 is a view or outlook, giving an outlook on life.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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 →

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 觀; 观 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
雚
雚guàn觀guān
Same sound today

The traditional form 觀 uses 見 (see) for meaning and 雚 for sound.

Open 观 →
Appears in
Abstract Concepts

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