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生意 (shēng yi) — business, trade; vitality, life force

Definition

At HSK 4, 生意 means 'business, trade' (how a company is doing). The 'vitality' sense is rare — for that meaning, learners will meet 活力 or 生命力 later. Compare 商业, which refers to commerce as an industry/sector, not one shop's results.

noun
businesstradevitalitylife force
Measure word · 笔
Easily confused

Examples

  • 生意？
    Zuì jìn shēng yi zěn me yàng?
    How's business lately?
  • ，。
    Chūn tiān lái le, zhí wù hěn yǒu shēng yi.
    Spring has come, and the plants are full of vitality.
  • 生意。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī de shēng yi hěn hǎo.
    This company's business is doing well.

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.

生shēnglife
意yìmeaning

生 (life) and 意 (meaning) combine to suggest vitality, later business.

Characters in this word

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 意 →
Appears in
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