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谋生 (móu shēng) — to earn a living; to make a livelihood

Definition

谋生 means 'to earn a living' — specifically working to support oneself day to day, unlike 谋求 and 谋取, which mean 'to seek' an abstract goal or advantage, not daily survival.

verb
to earn a livingto make a livelihood

Examples

  • 谋生。
    Hěn duō nián qīng rén qù dà chéng shì móu shēng.
    Many young people go to big cities to earn a living.
  • 谋生。
    Tā kào zì jǐ de shǒu yì móu shēng.
    He earns a living through his own craft.
  • 谋生，。
    Wèi le móu shēng, tā bù dé bù qǐ zǎo tān hēi.
    To make a living, he has to work from dawn till dusk.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

谋móuseek
生shēnglivelihood

谋 means to seek and 生 means livelihood; together they describe seeking 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 謀; 谋 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
某
某mǒu謀móu
Same sound today

The traditional form 謀 uses 言 to show it relates to speech and 某 to show its sound; the simplified 谋 is a later shorthand.

Open 谋 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Professions & Jobs

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