催生 (cuī shēng) — to spawn, to give rise to, to trigger (a new development or phenomenon); (dated) to induce labor; to accelerate childbirth

Definition

催生 means to trigger or give rise to a new development (reforms, industries, trends) — the figurative sense most often used at HSK 7. The literal 'induce labor' sense is dated and rare.

verb
to spawnto give rise toto trigger (a new development or phenomenon)(dated) to induce laborto accelerate childbirth

Examples

  • 催生。
    Zhè xiàng gǎi gé cuī shēng le xǔ duō xīn xīng chǎn yè.
    This reform gave rise to many new industries.
  • 催生。
    Hù lián wǎng jì shù cuī shēng le quán xīn de shāng yè mó shì.
    Internet technology spawned an entirely new business model.
  • 催生。
    Yī yuàn yòng yào wù bāng tā cuī shēng.
    The hospital used medication to induce her labor.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

催cuīurge
生shēngbirth

催 means urge or hasten and 生 means birth, so the word originally means to hasten childbirth.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
崔
崔cuī催cuī
Same sound today

催 combines 亻, the person part, with 崔, which gives the sound.

Open 催 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.