营生 (yíng shēng) — to earn a living, to make a living

Definition

verb
to earn a livingto make a living

Examples

  • 营生。
    Tā kào mài shuǐ guǒ yíng shēng.
    He makes a living by selling fruit.
  • ，营生。
    Zài xiāng xia, zhòng dì shì zhǔ yào de yíng shēng fāng shì.
    In the countryside, farming is the main way to make a living.
  • 营生，。
    Wèi le yíng shēng, tā bù dé bú qù wài dì dǎ gōng.
    To earn a living, he had to go to another city for work.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

营yíngseek or manage
生shēnglife

营 means to seek or manage and 生 means life, so the word means earning a living.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 營; 营 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宮宮gōngpalace
Sound part声符shēngfú
熒
熒yíng營yíng
Same sound today

The traditional form 營 pairs 宮 (palace) with 熒 as a sound part, depicting a person working all night with a light on his house; the simplified 营 is a later abbreviation.

Open 营 →

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 →

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