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生死 (shēng sǐ) — (noun) life and death (as a fundamental pair); (adjective) life-and-death, critical, decisive

Definition

生死 is a noun pair 'life and death' or adjective 'life-and-death / critical' — used when the stakes are survival itself, not just a bad situation. Stronger than 危急 ('critical' about a moment) and more absolute than 严重 ('serious').

noun
life and death (as a fundamental pair)
adjective
life-and-deathcriticaldecisive

Examples

  • 生死，。
    shēng sǐ Miàn qián, rén rén píng děng.
    In the face of life and death, everyone is equal.
  • 。
    Zhè shì shēng sǐ cún wáng de guān jiàn shí kè.
    This is a critical moment of survival or destruction.
  • 生死，。
    Tā men bǎ shēng sǐ zhì zhī dù wài, quán lì jiù rén.
    They disregarded life and death entirely, doing their utmost to save people.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

生shēnglife
死sǐdeath

“生” (life) and “死” (death) are paired to mean life and death or a critical situation.

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 →

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
歹歹dǎi
Sound part声符shēngfú
尸
尸shī死sǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

死 is built from 歹 and 尸: 歹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 尸 gives the sound.

Open 死 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract Concepts5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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