私生子 (sī shēng zǐ) — illegitimate child, love child | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A child born to parents who are not married to each other — a neutral descriptive term, though it carries a strong social stigma in Chinese contexts (one should not use it about someone without reason).

noun

illegitimate childlove child

Measure word · 个

Examples

私生子。
Tā yuán lái shì gè sī shēng zǐ.
He turned out to be an illegitimate child.
私生子。
Tā de sī shēng zǐ chū shēng hòu jiù bèi sòng zǒu le.
Her illegitimate child was sent away after birth.
，私生子。
Zài xiàn dài shè huì, sī shēng zǐ bú yīng gāi shòu dào qí shì.
In modern society, illegitimate children should not be discriminated against.

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.

私生illegitimate birth

私sīillegitimate生shēngbirth

偏正Modifier + head

私 marks illegitimate, 生 says birth, and 子 names the child.

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.

禾厶私

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

厶

厶sī私sī

Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

屮屮chèbud
一一yīground

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Appears in

Family & Kinship

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