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私生活 (sī shēng huó) — private life

Definition

Refers to the personal, non-public side of someone's life — what they do outside of work or their public role. Used when drawing a line between someone's private affairs and things open to public attention.

noun
private life

Examples

  • 私生活。
    Wǒ men yīng gāi zūn zhòng měi gè rén de sī shēng huó.
    We should respect everyone's private life.
  • 私生活。
    Méi tǐ bú yīng gāi bào dào tài duō míng xīng de sī shēng huó.
    The media should not report too much on celebrities' private lives.
  • 私生活。
    Tā cóng lái bú zài gōng sī tán zì jǐ de sī shēng huó.
    He never talks about his private life at the company.

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sīprivate
生活life
生shēnglive活huólive
联合Coordinate

私 means private, while 生活, built from 生 and 活, means life, giving private life.

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
禾禾hé
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.

Open 私 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑活huó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

活 is built from 氵 (water) and 𠯑, which shows the sound; 𠯑 later changed into 舌.

Open 活 →
Appears in
Abstract Concepts

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