Definition
生 (shēng) as a verb means 'to give birth' or 'to grow' — it's the general, everyday word for being born or producing life. 出生 (chūshēng) is the specific verb for 'to be born' (of a person), while 生育 (shēngyù) is more formal, used for 'to bear children' as a biological or medical term. As an adjective, 生 means 'raw, uncooked' (e.g. raw fish), contrasting with 原 (yuán) 'original, unprocessed'.
verb
to give birth toto grow
adjective
rawuncooked
Easily confused
- 声shēngsound-alike(noun) sound, voice, noise
- 剩shèngsound-aliketo be left; to remain
- 省shěngsound-alike(noun) province
- 省shěngsound-aliketo save, to economize
- 胜shèngsound-aliketo win; to defeat
- 升shēngsound-aliketo rise, to go up; to increase (temperature, prices, etc.)
- 升shēngsound-alike(classifier) liter (unit of volume)
Examples
- 生。Tā qùnián shēng le yí gè háizi.She gave birth to a child last year.
- ，。Chūntiān lái le, shù shēng chū le xīn yèzi.Spring has come, and the tree has grown new leaves.
- 生，。Zhè tiáo yú shì shēng de, bù néng zhíjiē chī.This fish is raw; you can't eat it directly.
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